Canton politico Cleve Anderson will be going to trial after he managed to talk himself out of a guilty plea hearing in federal court last week.
A federal grand jury indicted Anderson for two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery. Anderson is a former Canton Alderman and former Chairman of the Canton Municipal Utilities Board of Commissioners. The defendant submitted a petition to plead guilty in February. U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate held a hearing on September 26 to accept the plea but that is where things got squirrely for Anderson.
Judge Wingate denied the petition as he decreed:
On September 13, 2023, defendant CLEVELAND ANDERSON appeared before the Court with the stated purpose of changing his prior plea of “not guilty” to a plea of “guilty.” The Court questioned Defendant Anderson concerning the essential elements of the offense charged in Count 1 of the indictment, and Defendant Anderson denied that he acted corruptly or had corrupt intent as required by the elements of the charge in Count 1 of the indictment. Consequently, the Court did not accept Defendant Anderson’s plea of guilty, and set this case for trial on December 4, 2023 along with co-Defendant Rudolph M. Warnock, Jr.
Attorney Damon Stevenson represents Anderson.
Synopsis of Case
A federal grand jury indicted former Canton Municipal Utilities engineer Rudy Warnock for conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud and Cleveland Anderson for two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery in December 2021. The indictments were unsealed nearly a year later on November 22, 2022.
The grand jury also indicted former Canton Alderman Andrew Grant and Canton Alderman Eric Gilkey for Conspiracy to commit bribery (2 counts), conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud in December 2021. The two defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.The indictment alleges the defendants bilked CMU from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017. Commissioner Anderson moved to hire Warnock as CMU's civil engineer on August 16, 2016.
The indictment charges Warnock made regular payments to Anderson, Gilkey, and Grant in exchange for contracts and "favorable treatment" at CMU.
Some of the Warnock gifts included tickets to luxury suites at New Orleans Saints games and concerts in the Crescent City.
The indictment charges Warnock deposited a check "in the amount of $9,200, made payable to J.M. through the automated clearinghouse system of the Federal Reserve Bank System. Part of the proceeds of this transaction were given to defendants Grant and Gilkey in the form of $4,000 cash each.
The maximum penalty for the conspiracy to commit bribery is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalties for the wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges are 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
8 comments:
a la George Castanza, "It isn't a lie if you believe it."
Contract steering and palm greasing - a Mississippi tradition.
Thought Cleve, and his lawyer, were smarter than that. Oh well, life trudges on up here in Canton.
Waiting for all this federal Rudy mess to slide from the courthouse to the building to the immediate south. All in good time.
Anderson and his attorney are rolling the dice in anticipation of a 'Canton Jury' sleeping through the trial and deciding the case based purely on skin-tone.
But the stakes are a bit higher and the odds are a bit lower when you're looking at a federal jury. A federal jury pool is a bit wider than Popeye's, McDonalds and The Links apartments.
Yep. He won’t have far to walk.
I assure you Kenny Wayne Jones is involved with this. It wouldn't be possible for stealing not to take place and Mr. Jones didn't get his 15%.
Who is Kenny Wayne Jones?
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