Photo by Matt Dunn

An assistant treasurer for Mayor Vince Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign was charged today with violating D.C. elections laws, including destroying evidence and funneling money to a campaign other than the one he worked for.

According to the Post, Thomas Gore faces three counts of making contributions to a campaign in a name other than his own and one for destroying evidence:

Charging papers say he made $535 in money order payments from Gray’s campaign to that of “Campaign B,” which is not identified in court papers. He is also charged with destroying a spiral notebook that contained a “record of payments to Candidate B,” with the “intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the investigation.”

Candidate B could be Sulaimon Brown, who ran against Gray and then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in the Democratic primary. Brown has alleged that he received payments from the Gray campaign to attack the former mayor.

The charges are the first hint that the ongoing federal investigation against the Gray campaign is bearing fruit, though it remains unclear if it will rise to the level of the mayor himself. That being said, the Post’s Mike DeBonis makes a sharp point about what it means for Gray:

The immediate pressure on Gray now is to explain what he knew and when he knew about the illegal campaign contributions described in the charging documents, as well as Gore’s alleged destruction of evidence — which is said to have come on or around the same day The Post first publicized Brown’s claims.

All of this is linked back to former mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown, who was given a government job after Gray’s victory but went rogue after being fired. He alleged that Gray’s campaign paid him to attack Mayor Adrian Fenty on the campaign trail.

The full charging papers are here.