Federal prosecutors in Maryland have unsealed an indictment charging a 54-year-old Baltimore County property owner with paying more than $10,000 in bribes to a former Baltimore City Department of Finance official. Investigators allege the payments, made over a two-year period, were intended to erase or reduce property-tax and water-bill liabilities and to manipulate the city’s tax-sale process in the defendant’s favor. The case is the latest development in a corruption probe that previously led to the conviction of the city official who accepted the kickbacks. The new indictment follows a joint investigation by the FBI’s Baltimore field office and the Baltimore County Police Department and was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. The Baltimore County resident faces federal bribery charges. An initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore has not yet been scheduled, and prosecutors did not immediately disclose a potential maximum sentence. The investigation remains open.