Ronald “Ronnie” Rosenbluth resigned from his job at the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office last week, the latest turn in the federal blackmail and extortion case against Democratic state Sen. Dalya Attar, her brother and a Baltimore cop.

Best known as the longtime owner of Tov Pizza, a popular kosher restaurant in Northwest Baltimore that is a political hub for the region’s Jewish community, Rosenbluth, 62, went to work for Sheriff Sam Cogen in April 2023, where he had an annual salary of $80,000.

Cogen, a Democrat, hired Rosenbluth, who has given $4,600 to the sheriff’s campaigns, to help with landlord-tenant issues.

On Nov. 13, The Banner reported that Rosenbluth was named in court filings connected to suspended Baltimore Police officer Kalman Finkelstein, who is a codefendant. As part of the three defendants’ pretrial release, a federal judge ordered them to have no contact with a list of people involved with the case. The list is not public, but a filing from Finkelstein’s attorneys shows that Rosenbluth is on it.

On Nov. 14, Rosenbluth handed in his resignation to Cogen, according to a spokesperson for his office.

Alicia Bard, Cogen’s spokesperson, said the sheriff did not ask for Rosenbluth’s resignation and declined to comment further.

Reached by phone last week, Rosenbluth said he could not comment on his involvement in the case and that he did not know he was on a list.

“You’re telling me something new,” he said.

Rosenbluth did not return a request for comment Wednesday,

Prosecutors allege the Attars and Finkelstein worked with four unnamed coconspirators to illicitly record one of Dalya Attar’s former political consultants in bed. Then, according to WhatsApp messages cited in the indictment, the trio and the coconspirators hatched a scheme to use the bedroom tapes to prevent the consultant from sending out political mailers or posting online about Attar’s voting record to fellow members of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Attar, in a since-deleted letter posted to a community Facebook page, admitted to following and taping her former consultant, as well as using the video to try to silence her. Attar, however, claimed none of the conduct was illegal and that she and others acted out of concerns for her safety.

“I’m sure the false attacks will get louder before I am able to clear my name, but I am confident the truth will be the arbiter of justice,” Attar wrote online. She and the other defendants are set to be arraigned Monday.

A former prosecutor, Attar made headlines in 2018 when she was elected to the General Assembly as a delegate. It is widely believed Attar is the first Orthodox Jewish woman to serve in the legislature.

Although it remains unclear why Rosenbluth was on prosecutors’ no-contact list — the list could also include potential witnesses — his ties to Attar are clear. His wife, Sandy, is Attar’s chief of staff.

Both Rosenbluths are Baltimore political players. They are members of the city Democratic Central Committee for the 41st District, the same body that appointed Attar to the state Senate earlier this year.