Gulfport, Mississippi Mayor Brent Warr and wife Laura arrested -- a composite photograph
America's mayors keep getting arrested. Some bring their spouses along.
Wanna get lots of money and be a criminal? Just get elected mayor in America and you're almost there. Okay that's a slight exaggeration. There are some honest mayors. And probably quite a few that just haven't been arrested yet.
Ethic Soup first wrote about arrested mayors back in December, "Birmingham Mayor Arrested: Langford Joins Jailed Mayors Club." It was a round-up article and included Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Fairbanks Mayor James C. Hayes and 9 other mayors. We planned on writing an annual post on the subject -- if warranted. Surprise! It's warranted now -- just three months later. Yep, there's a whole new batch of mayors singing 'Jail House Rock.'
Gulfport, Mississippi:
Mayor Brent Warr and his wife, Laura, were arrested in January charged in a 16-count indictment. They are accused of lying to get federal grant money for a storm-damaged beachfront home they owned, but didn't live in. The charges make Mayor Warr (pictured right with President Bush) the highest ranking official to be accused of fraud related to 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Prosecutors say Warr and his wife applied for FEMA money, lied by claiming the beachfront property was their primary residence and schemed to defraud Lexington Insurance Co. and the government of $222,798.10.
Hartford, Connecticut:
Mayor Eddie Perez went from being a one-time gang leader to become Hartford's first Hispanic mayor and historically one of the city's most powerful mayors -- until his arrest for bribery, by having a city contractor do $40,000 in renovations to his home and not paying for it until confronted by investigators. The contractor was previously awarded a $5 million city streetscape contract. With the bribery charge, the Perez name was added to a long list of crooked politicians which has given the state the "Corrupticut" nickname.
Perez, 51, has been charged with receiving a bribe and fabricating physical evidence. Each felony brings a maximum sentence of five to 10 years in prison if convicted. Similarly a few years back former Gov. John G. Rowland served 10 months in federal prison because he traded political access for vacations and repairs to his cottage. Oh, there's also former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim, who is serving a 9-year federal prison sentence for guiding some $2 million in city contracts. Oops, almost forgot former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano, now serving a 37-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two girls, discovered during a federal corruption investigation.
Baltimore, Maryland:
Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted by a Maryland grand jury in January on 12 criminal counts, including theft and perjury for alleged official misconduct. A number of the charges relate to gifts that prosecutors say Mayor Dixon received from developers and didn't properly disclose. Additionally, Maryland prosecutor's office charged that for four years Dixon misused holiday gift cards that were intended to be distributed -- to needy families.
Racine, Wisconsin:
Mayor Gary Becker, arrested in an Internet sting, is facing six felony accounts relating to his attempts to arrange a sexual encounter with someone he thought was an underage girl. Becker, married with two children, is charged with attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16, possession of child pornography, child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and misconduct in office. The charges carry a maximum penalty of more than 114 years in prison and $370,000 in fines.
Barrow, Alaska:
Mayor Michael D. Stotts, 44, resigned in February amid accusations that he improperly ran up thousands of dollars in personal charges on a city-owned credit card. The mayor racked up as much as $28,735 in improper spending, including credit card charges, per diem collected for out-of-town meetings he did not attend and buying alcohol on the city's dime. According to council reports, Stotts also used the city credit card to bail himself out after he was arrested on a DUI charge in Anchorage last May.
Newton, Georgia:
Former Mayor Terry Musgrove was one of the country's youngest mayors in 1979 when he was 20 years old. This January, Musgrove and his brother allegedly robbed a north Florida bank and then led authorities on a 100 mph chase on the Florida Panhandle. Back in 1985 he resigned the mayorship after pleading guilty to distributing cocaine to undercover agents and in the last decade was also convicted on drug and theft crimes in Georgia.
Canyon Lake, California:
Mayor pro tem Frank Kessler and his wife, Suzanne, were arrested in December on a 21-count felony complaint. Both were charged with embezzlement by a public official and misappropriation of public funds, while the mayor's wife was additionally charged with five counts of grand theft and 14 counts of issuing non-sufficient funds checks in the amount of more than $500,000. The mayor attended Harvard Law School's Center for Criminal Justice as a Ford Fellow and graduated from the FBI's National Academy and Executive Institute of Police Leaders. Oops! The underlying ethics teachings apparently didn't stick.
Orange, New Jersey:
Mayor Mims Hackett, 67, plead guilty last May to a state charge of official misconduct for submitting fraudulent receipts for meals and other travel expenses and to federal charges of attempted extortion.
Hackett was one of 11 New Jersey politicians arrested in September 2007, as part of an FBI sting in which cooperating federal witnesses posed as corrupt businessmen offering bribes to obtain public contracts for insurance brokerage and roofing services.
Deerfield Beach, Florida
Mayor Al Capellini was arrested in December on a felony corruption charge and suspended as mayor by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Capellini was charged with unlawful compensation related to his engineering firm's involvement with a city development.
Maddock, North Dakota
Maddock Mayor Kevin Winson was arrested on drug, theft and criminal trespassing charges. The felony drug charge was for using methamphetamine. The theft and trespass charges involve allegations that the mayor stole copper wiring and plumbing from vacant farmsteads.
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Former Mayor Kevin Jackson resigned as mayor in July 2007 amid allegations of check fraud and misuse of a city credit card. In trouble with the law again. Jackson was held in a Pennsylvania jail in January on charges of violating a protection from abuse order, burglary, criminal trespassing and carrying a firearm. A police report stated that Jackson pointed a pistol at this wife "in an attempt to communicate and reconcile the relationship," according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Mayor Bobby Higginbotham was arrested with Police Chief Miles Jenkins on felony corruption and malfeasance in office charges in February. Mayor Higginbotham faces 44 counts, including multiple charges of malfeasance, felony theft, deducting payroll, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and theft.
TO READ THE FIRST "JAILED MAYOR'S CLUB" ARTICLE, CLICK HERE.
Note: Photos of mayors behind bars are composites.
By Sharon McEachern
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