Monday, December 31, 2012
The proposed 2013 Gwinnett budget to be voted on January 3 includes DA's request for a lead investigator into government corruption in the county.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget that the Gwinnett commissioners will consider approving on Thursday, January 3, includes a $122,080 request from Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter to fund an assistant chief investigator. The funds that Porter requested for the position in September made it into the final budget proposal. This investigator would lead probes into government corruption in the Gwinnett County, which has been shaken by a series of incidents involving county officials that have tainted the county’s reputation and eroded public trust over the past two years. Since 2010, three Gwinnett commissioners -- Charles Bannister, Kevin Kenerly and Shirley Lasster -- have resigned amid proof of or allegations of criminal conduct. …
Saturday, December 29, 2012
News from Patch sites in the area.
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Saturday, December 29, 2012
A key figure in the Shirley Lasseter bribery case has received a date to report to federal prison. After being granted a brief reprieve because his wife was hospitalized, Carl “Skip” Cain of Flowery Branch has been ordered to report to federal prison by January 7, 2013, to begin serving a 57-month sentence without parole. Cain pleaded guilty earlier this year to participating in a bribery scheme involving former Gwinnett County commissioner Lasseter, and to drug trafficking charges. Cain, 65, has been assigned to a federal prison in Edgefield, S.C. The Federal Correctional Institute at Edgefield is a medium security facility for male offenders. It is near the Georgia-S.C. border about 25 miles north of Augusta. FCI-Edgefield has a current …
Monday, November 26, 2012
The former Gwinnett commissioner is to serve her federal sentence in Florida.
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Monday, November 26, 2012
Former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter has been ordered to report to federal prison in Marianna, Fla, by Dec. 12 to begin serving a 33-month sentence for bribery, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported. Lasseter, whose district included Suwanee, pleaded guilty last May to accepting $36,500 in bribes during 2011 from an undercover FBI agent posing as a Florida businessman; the bribes were in exchange for her favorable vote on a potential real estate development in her district. In September, she was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. to serve 33 months in prison without parole. The order to report to prison was contained in a letter dated Nov. 15 and filed in the federal district court in …
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The former Gwinnett commissioner reportedly tells the AJC that developers told her bribing county officials was the way to get business done.
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter has said in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that bribery was a common practice in Gwinnett County. Lasseter, whose district included Suwanee, is slated to enter federal prison soon after pleading guilty and being sentenced to serve 33 months in prison for accepting bribes in 2011 from an undercover FBI agent to approve a proposed development in her commission district. Developers told her after she took office on the commission in 2009 that making illegal payments to government officials in the county was the way to get business done, according to an Associated Press article citing her interview with the AJC posted on ajc.com Saturday (Oct. 20). Lasseter told the AJC …
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Following a late January domestic dispute in Gwinnett, John Fanning was charged with misdemeanor battery. Lesley Fanning was charged with felony aggravated assault.
John Fanning, who was jailed Friday (Oct. 5) on several charges relating to a domestic dispute in Gwinnett, also faces several charges relating to a domestic dispute earlier in 2012. Both incidents involve his estranged wife, Lesley Lynn Fanning. Fanning, son of former Gwinnett Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, is being held without bond at the Gwinnett Detention Center. Charges include aggravated assault and cruelty to children (third degree). Gwinnett Police records show that they responded to a dispute involving the Fannings at their Dacula home on Bold Springs Road in January. In the January domestic dispute, police had not been called to the residence. A Gwinnett Police officer on patrol observed a visibly upset Lesley Fanning near her …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Mark Gary of Duluth will face sentencing on Jan. 3 in federal court in Atlanta.
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Monday, October 1, 2012
Gwinnett developer Mark Gary, 39, of Duluth, pleaded guilty Monday (Oct. 1) in federal district court in Atlanta to a charge of bribing then-Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter in 2009 to secure approval of a proposed waste transfer station in which he held a personal stake. Gary's sentencing hearing was scheduled for Jan. 3 before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. “Today’s guilty plea shows that paying off a public official is a losing bet,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in a press release issued by her office. “Gwinnett County’s approval of competing real estate developments is not a game in which votes are for sale to the highest bidder. We will continue to aggressively pursue business people who corrupt the…
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Mark Gary is charged with bribing former Gwinnett Commissioner Shirley Lasseter.
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
A federal plea hearing has been scheduled for Gwinnett developer Mark Gary on corruption charges at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, before U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell Jr. in the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in Atlanta. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta has charged Gary with bribing former Gwinnett District 1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter to obtain commission approval in 2009 of a controversial $4 million waste transfer station in Norcross which he had a personal stake. Gary was implicated in an investigation of corruption in Gwinnett County government. Gary's company developed the Noble Village residential complex on Satellite Boulevard in Suwanee. Also, his company has another such development under way in Peachtree Corners. …
Thursday, September 6, 2012
The former Gwinnett District 1 commissioner receives a reduced sentence as a result of her cooperation with authorities in an ongoing corruption probe.
Former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, 64, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison without parole in federal district court in Atlanta Wednesday (Sept. 5) for accepting bribes. Lasseter pleaded guilty May 31 to accepting $36,500 in bribes during 2011 from an FBI agent posing as a South Florida real estate developer to support a proposed real estate development in her district. Lasseter resigned from her District 1 seat on the Gwinnett County Commission that day. She represented Duluth, Suwanee and Sugar Hill on the commission. -- What do you think of Lasseter's sentence? Tell us in the comments below. Her son John Fanning, 34, of Dacula, and Carl “Skip” Cain, 65, of Flowery Branch, pleaded guilty in May to participating…
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Lasseter has four to six weeks to report to the federal prison she will be assigned to.
Former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison without parole on Wednesday for accepting bribes. Sentencing was delayed until Sept. 18 for Lasseter’s son, John Fanning, and another defendant, Carl “Skip” Cain. Lasseter has four to six weeks to report to federal prison. U.S. Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. recommended that she be incarcerated close to Atlanta so she can be close to her family. -- Are you surprised by Lasseter's sentence? Tell us in the comments below. Lasseter's attorney, Stephen Johnson, had argued in federal court in Atlanta for a 24-month sentence, but the judge opted for the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s recommendation. Several family members and friends spoke on Lasseter’s …
Feds say developer Mark Gary paid Lasseter $30,000 to influence her vote on a solid waste transfer station.
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Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Former Gwinnett Planning Commissioner Mark Gary has been charged by federal authorities in Atlanta with bribery in connection with a payment made to then-Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, according to media reports. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported Wednesday (Sept. 5) that Gary, who is part of Gary Holding Group in Johns Creek, paid $30,000 in casino chips to influence Lasseter's vote on a solid waste transfer station in Norcross. Lasseter voted for the transfer station on April 28, 2009. The following June, Gary gave the chips to her son, John Fanning, federal court documents say. Lasseter, whose Gwinnett District 1 included Suwanee, Duluth and Sugar Hill, appointed Gary to the planning commission in 2009, according to media reports…
Steve Burns
5:56 pm on Monday, October 8, 2012
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