By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com When you’re the mayor and the FBI shows up with a search warrant at your home, you, as Ricky Ricardo used to say, “got some splainin to do.” The FBI and Texas Rangers showed up Tuesday with a search warrant for Art Franco, the mayor of Anthony, Tex., reports the news…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A council member in a southern California town may be off the council soon, after pleading guilty on Monday to felony conspiracy charges. The charges stem from City of Commerce Councilman Robert Fierro’s attempt to interfere with an investigation into his campaign’s finances, reports the LA Times. Fierro reimbursed certain campaign…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent has pleaded guilty to leaking information to relatives involved in drug trafficking, authorities said. Jovana Deas, 33, of Rio Rico, Ariz., pleaded guilty to all 21 counts against her, the FBI said in a statement on Monday. Deas was…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com It may not be Chicago, but the Denver FBI is now investigating more than a dozen cases of public corruption in Colorado, Wyoming and Indian country, reports the Denver Post. That number is up from three years ago, when the bureau launched a special hotline for tips on public corruption At…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A former homicide detective in St. Petersburg, Fla. was slapped with two years in prison for public corruption charges, the FBI announced on Wednesday morning. Anthony V. Foster received the sentence after pleading guilty to wire fraud to deprive the public of honest services on October 20, 2011. Court documents show…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A New York state Assemblyman has been charged by a federal grand jury for soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes, reports the New York Post. William F. Boyland, Jr. is charged with soliciting more than $250,000 in bribes in order to fast-track development deals and to help a carnival company, the…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com And now for a little news about corruption just north of the Mexican border. Indictments unsealed on Friday show that an ex-judge and three businessmen were arrested after a years-long federal investigation into corruption in El Paso County, the AP reports Anthony Cobos, the former county judge, allegedly received bribes and…
By Danny Fenster ticklethewire.com A federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday socked Rod Blagojevich, the ever-chatty ex-Illinois Governor, with a 14-year prison term, just one year short of the minimum the prosecution had recommended, according to the Chicago Tribune. He is now scheduled to report to prison Feb. 16. “The vast majority of facts…
