This week, three former aldermen were sentenced to about three years each in prison for taking bribes. Lewis Reed, Jeffrey Boyd and John Collins-Muhammad all faced federal indictments this summer, and ended up pleading guilty.
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jay Greenberg joined KMOX to talk about the sentencing. All three men were given nearly the maximum sentence for their crimes, which Greenberg said signals how seriously the court took their conduct.
“But the real people to determine if those were good or bad sentences aren't me,” Greenberg said. “They are the people of St. Louis, whom these aldermen all let down in their official failures.”
Some of the people of St. Louis, however, believe that the aldermen were set up in some way, and that the investigation into their behavior was a “sting.”
“This is not a sting. It is not a setup. In fact, all the defendants — rather than going to trial and making a case about how they were not guilty — pled guilty,” Greenberg said. “They admitted their conduct was in fact criminal, and it was intentional. And so that is the best evidence we have that they were not set up.”
Greenberg said that one way law enforcement finds out about this kind of conduct is from people simply coming forward about it — and that’s what happened in this case.
“One thing I want all the listeners to take away from this series: If you know of conduct like this, we need your help,” he said. “We would welcome your call to 1-800-CALL-FBI to give us an opportunity to investigate and make sure that the city leaders that you've elected, or any government leaders that are out there, are in fact serving the community and not just serving themselves.”
Hear Special Agent Jay Greenberg’s analysis on the case from Total Information AM:
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