Orange Beach major in BIG trouble
Memphis doesn't have a lock on corrupt politicians. I think they are dumber in Memphis, and the members of the same family keep getting voted back in office over and over in spite of convictions & scandal, but down here Orange Beach has got crooked politician problems too.
Orange Beach Mayor Steve Russo was indicted Thursday on federal criminal charges that he violated Alabama elections laws by not reporting more than $33,000 in campaign contributions prior to his 2004 re-election and used the money to pay for vacations, casino trips, clothing, a computer and other personal expenses.
In early 2004, on an official trip to New York to meet with financial firm, Merchant Capital, regarding an upcoming municipal bond issue, the indictment alleges Russo charged personal expenses, including $800 in Broadway theater tickets and a $1,700 on-call limousine service, to a credit card owned by the company, which were later billed back to the city as part of the company's services associated with underwriting the bond.
There is more that has to do with bribes, condos in New Orleans, a BMW for him and a car for his very young girlfriend (now wife--she won't have to testify against him)
A former District Attourney and a developer and some otther guy are also arrested on bribery charges over zoning issues and pay-offs.
Russo, 44, faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the seven counts of fraud charged in the federal indictment. The state charges, a mix of felony and misdemeanor violations, carry varying penalties.
Russo was arrested again by Baldwin County Sheriff’s deputies behind City Hall — in front of a waiting news crew — on minor drug charges.
Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone said that federal and state investigators found a small quantity of marijuana and a pipe while searching the mayor’s condo at Caribe Resort on Thursday after he was arrested there and booked at the Baldwin County Corrections Center on the state’s public corruption charges.
The drug charges — possession of marijuana and of drug paraphernalia — are both misdemeanors and pale in comparison to those brought last week against the 44-year-old mayor.
Russo, reading from the typed statement, told a packed City Hall: “I ask everyone, both in Orange Beach and south Alabama, to resist the urge to jump to conclusions. If you merely read the paper and watch the news it is easy to conclude that I am guilty and should hurry on off to jail.”
Read the complete news here
Orange Beach Mayor Steve Russo was indicted Thursday on federal criminal charges that he violated Alabama elections laws by not reporting more than $33,000 in campaign contributions prior to his 2004 re-election and used the money to pay for vacations, casino trips, clothing, a computer and other personal expenses.
In early 2004, on an official trip to New York to meet with financial firm, Merchant Capital, regarding an upcoming municipal bond issue, the indictment alleges Russo charged personal expenses, including $800 in Broadway theater tickets and a $1,700 on-call limousine service, to a credit card owned by the company, which were later billed back to the city as part of the company's services associated with underwriting the bond.
There is more that has to do with bribes, condos in New Orleans, a BMW for him and a car for his very young girlfriend (now wife--she won't have to testify against him)
A former District Attourney and a developer and some otther guy are also arrested on bribery charges over zoning issues and pay-offs.
Russo, 44, faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the seven counts of fraud charged in the federal indictment. The state charges, a mix of felony and misdemeanor violations, carry varying penalties.
Russo was arrested again by Baldwin County Sheriff’s deputies behind City Hall — in front of a waiting news crew — on minor drug charges.
Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone said that federal and state investigators found a small quantity of marijuana and a pipe while searching the mayor’s condo at Caribe Resort on Thursday after he was arrested there and booked at the Baldwin County Corrections Center on the state’s public corruption charges.
The drug charges — possession of marijuana and of drug paraphernalia — are both misdemeanors and pale in comparison to those brought last week against the 44-year-old mayor.
Russo, reading from the typed statement, told a packed City Hall: “I ask everyone, both in Orange Beach and south Alabama, to resist the urge to jump to conclusions. If you merely read the paper and watch the news it is easy to conclude that I am guilty and should hurry on off to jail.”
Read the complete news here
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