Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com What turned into the largest mass arrests of L.A. County sheriff’s officials in decades began with a single letter from a jail inmate, the Los Angeles Times reports. FBI Agent Leah Marx testified that the probe began in June 2010 when a county jail inmate detailed a pattern of violence by deputies….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Separate corruption investigations led to the arrests of two public officials in North Carolina and California and to the raid of the office of a New York state senator, the Washington Post reports. Hundreds of federal agents descended on offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, arresting several people including state Democratic…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI rushed its investigation into Trenton Mayor Tony Mack because agents were worried the administration knew about the probe, the Trenton Times reports. A city carpet salesman, who was Mack’s fraternity brother, warned the mayor of an investigation, prompting the FBI to scurry for search warrants. “We needed to execute immediately…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A veteran ICE agent is accused of accepting bribes to help smuggle illegal immigrants into the country by claiming they were witnesses to a drug investigation, CBS Miami reports. That’s one allegation facing Special Agent Juan Martinez, who appeared in court Friday on 12 criminal counts, including extortion and bribery. Martinez also…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A big scandal continues to unravel. The latest: John Bertrand Beliveau Jr., 44, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) pleaded guilty Wednesday to participating in a massive international fraud and bribery scheme, admitting he shared with a foreign Navy contractor confidential information about ongoing criminal probes into the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Border Patrol Agent Ivhan Herrera-Chiang had one major job – stop criminals from smuggling drugs. But Herrera exploited his position to help smugglers bring meth, cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., the Arizona Central reports. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 15 years behind bars on four felony counts of bribery. “You have…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison for running a complex racketeering scheme out of city hall. The sentence is one of the stiffest ever leveled against a corrupt politician. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said she wanted to send a clear message that corruption would not…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com When it comes to politics in the small Texas town of Progreso, it’s safe to say the Vela family flexed some muscle. Omar Vela, 35, is the town’s mayor. His brother, Michael Vela, 28 (pictured), is the president of the school board. And their father, Jose Guadalupe Vela, 64, works in management…
