"Wilkerson to enter guilty plea; Former senator faces 32 charges in bribery case" by Jonathan Saltzman and Adrian Walker, Globe Staff | June 3, 2010
Related: The World Sees Wilkerson With No Clothes
Cover up, quick.
And what is with the money falling out of the bra?
The plea deal would end a case that toppled the only black member of the state Senate and raised the specter of old-fashioned corruption and influence-peddling in the State House and City Hall.
Dianne Wilkerson, a former state senator from Boston who was once considered a rising political star in Democratic politics, faces 32 charges of allegedly taking bribes totaling $23,500 to secure a liquor license for a nightclub and legislation to pave the way for a commercial development in Roxbury. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, according to federal prosecutors. But she is likely to face considerably less time in prison by pleading guilty....
Authorities allege that Wilkerson accepted $23,500 from a Roxbury businessman, Ronald Wilburn, who was a witness secretly cooperating with the FBI, and from an undercover FBI agent. Evidence released by authorities included a widely disseminated surveillance picture of Wilkerson allegedly stuffing 10 $100 bills into her bra.
Councilor Chuck Turner, who is scheduled to be tried in US District Court Oct. 12 on corruption charges stemming from the same FBI sting, said the plea agreement will have no effect on his case. Turner was secretly photographed allegedly accepting a $1,000 bribe from Wilburn as part of the same scheme.
Also see: The Difference Between a State Senator and City Councilman
Chuckie's in love, huh?
“I look forward to going on trial and showing people that the real criminal in this case is US Attorney Sullivan,’’ Turner said. “People in this area need to know what a scoundrel he is.’’
Wilburn said yesterday that Wilkerson “did the right thing’’ by agreeing to plead guilty.
“It was just overwhelming,’’ he said of the case against her. “The part I played was a very small part.’’
Wilburn told the Globe last year that he would not testify against Wilkerson or Turner, contending that the government had not pursued corrupt white officials. He reiterated that view yesterday.
“I’m really disappointed,’’ he told a Globe reporter. “There’s no way other people should be home free. The scales of justice didn’t tip the right way.’’
Wilkerson, a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., raised herself up from poverty, burst onto the political scene as a crusading lawyer for the NAACP in Boston, and championed good government causes as a liberal legislative powerhouse and the lone African-American in the state Senate.
I'm SO EMBARRASSED I am from Massachusetts.
But her political career imploded when federal agents arrested her at her Roxbury home on corruption charges.
She was accused in the November 2008 indictment of taking eight bribes over a period of roughly 18 months in 2007 and 2008 to secure a liquor license for a new nightclub, Dejavu, and to pave the way for a commercial development at Melnea Cass Boulevard and Washington Street.
Several of the alleged payments took place at restaurants just steps from the State House, including the Fill-A-Buster lunch counter and posh No. 9 Park.
A subsequent federal indictment alleged that she had begun taking bribes for political favors in 2002, including a series of payments from an individual who wanted her help developing the property.
The individual was identified only as Witness D in the indictment and allegedly made a series of payments that ranged from $500 to $1,200. The indictment did not specify the number of payments.
Three weeks after Wilkerson’s arrest, facing open scorn from her Senate colleagues and the possibility of a humiliating vote to strip her of her seat, she resigned from the Senate after nearly 16 years in office.
The Roxbury Democrat had long been a controversial figure in her district, although many of her constituents adored her.
She had been reelected time and again, despite a 1997 guilty plea for failing to file tax returns, a 1998 probation violation that sent her to a halfway house for 30 days, and a 1998 finding that she had violated campaign finance laws dating back to her first Senate contest in 1992.
So this has been a PATTERN from the BEGINNING, huh?
Yup, SERVING HER CONSTITUENTS!
"Wilkerson admits she took $23,500; Prosecutors seek up to 4-year term" by Jonathan Saltzman and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff | June 4, 2010
Former state senator Dianne Wilkerson admitted to a federal judge yesterday that she took $23,500 in bribes, saying later that she had pleaded guilty to attempted extortion charges because it was “best for my family and the community I care for so deeply.’’
Federal prosecutors have promised to recommend no more than four years in prison when she is sentenced on Sept. 20. Wilkerson’s lawyers will almost certainly recommend far less. They said they hoped US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock considers her years of public service and “the whole person who will be judged.’’
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Also see: Criminal State Senator Also a Liar
Criminal State Senator Still Campaigning
Criminal State Senator Returns For Cover-Up
I've come to my conclusion and judgment, folks.
Does PoS mean anything to you?
