| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
Marcos
Guest
|
Public corruption exposed in Flint council Jackie Poplar works out deal with U.S. Attorney's Office
By Taryn Asher
FLINT (WJRT) - (11/30/06)--Thursday night revealed public corruption within Flint's City Council.
Councilmember Jackie Poplar was under investigation in July for using her power to extort money from two separate business owners.
Thursday Poplar worked out a deal with the U.S Attorney's Office that is allowing her to avoid federal charges.
Poplar had to agree to make a public apology and stay out of trouble for a year to avoid extortion charges.
The FBI started looking into Poplar when a Flint party store owner alerted authorities.
Pierre Najjar, who owns the Shop N Go mini mart at the corner of Pierson and Fleming, claims Poplar promised him council approval for the transfer of a liquor license if in return he paid her $500.
Najjar wasn't alone. Poplar promised the same to another Flint party store that was looking for a liquor license transfer. The transactions went down under the watch of authorities.
ABC12 obtained a letter where Poplar apologizes and admits to these crimes. The letter is addressed to the Flint Journal and as part of the agreement is expected to be published in the paper.
In it, Poplar says she asked for the bribes so she could put the total of $1,000 toward a scholarship fund for the top 10 high school graduates in her ward.
But she later learned her actions violated federal law because she used the power of her public office to coerce contributions.
We were unable to reach Poplar for a response. The FBI chose not to comment.
You can see the ABC12 report by clicking on the video icon above. You will need Windows Media Player to view this video. You can get it FREE by clicking here. NOTE: Video clips will only be available for 7-days from the date they were created. ALSO: Video clips may play in a separate window, without audio, on Mac OS X machines. abc12.com is aware of this issue and is working with the video player vendor to correct it as soon as possible.Copyright 2006 ABC Inc., WJRT-TV |
|
|
Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:05 pm |
|
|
rapunzel
Guest
|
Really!!
Jackie Poplar ran on the promise she would never approve ANY liquor licenses in her ward! Now a
transfer
of license could have flown under the wire.
There are some liquor stores that are "grandfathered in" that licenses would otherwise not be granted' within no longer allowed " proximity to schools. I would be very interested in facts on proximity of these proposed transfers around area schools. Are they closer or a greater distance from schools?
Pierson & Fleming looks to be a safe distance from schools? Have to look at guidelines.
Obviously this investigation has been ongoing and it is possible that the DON knew about this when he closed the center in her ward. Still the
people
should NOT be feeling his retribution for her actions.
Al Garcia from his lofty site in Maine has made comments about investigations of Jackie Poplar repeated times. I was under the thought he was referring to a past case of her relative.
If this case was under investigation he should not have been posting allegations? This is Federal correct? 
RAP |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:02 am |
|
|
Eric Hoffer
Guest
|
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind 1954
She is the few that are corrupt, if we are the weak and do not raise holy hell then we are the many...... |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:50 am |
|
|
DELETED
Guest
|
| DELETED |
_________________
Guest post |
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:33 am |
|
|
rapunzel
Guest
|
Larry,
If you make a drive by to Maine, the most exclusive crime free, wonderful state of the union. Ask Stephen King to send a very mean clown to our friend Al Garcia (Al GI- as in pond scum) or at least grab the back of al's boxers and pull them over his ears.
RAP |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:25 am |
|
|
DELETED
Guest
|
| DELETED |
_________________
Guest post |
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:38 am |
|
|
Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
|
| I wonder if it would be legal if we charged every liquor store $500 to go to a scholarship fund. I think it's easy to criticize Jackie for not being familiar with extortion laws but perhaps if we extorted money out of every liquor store perhaps it would be legal. |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:29 am |
|
|
Visitor
Guest
|
Poplar should resign immediately as councilmember. Regardless of what the extortion was for it was an inapporpriate use of power for the office she holds. What other votes has she decided to sell? Public confidence has been lost.
I doubt she will resign because this is Flint. We have a superintendent who lied on his resume and still was hired. He hired a pedophile friend, etc, etc. I hope her residents put enough pressure on her to resign! |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:49 am |
|
|
Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
|
While not making excuses for what she did, I will say that she was very open about this particular case. I can remember when she passed this one, she said from the Council Floor that the only reason she would grant this is because they had cleaned up the place and that they would donate $500.00 towards a scholarship fund that she had created for Flint youth. She said this when she passed it in an open forum.
So my question is, if this was illegal, which it seems to be, why did they wait so long when she admitted to doing it months ago on the record? I think she got caught up in this trying to make something good come out of a booze store. |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:10 pm |
|
|
Al Garcia
Guest
|
What Poplar did was BRAKE FEDERAL LAWS!!! The crime is Interference with Commerce by Extorsion. I have someone on my caseload that did the same thing and got 4 months in the federal pen and 24 months probation along with a $10000 fine and was forced to resign and Poplar gets away with apologizing! Amazing!
I brought this is everyones attention on "that other" site about 4 months ago and no one batted an eye. Now all of a sudden, its big news. Its amazing how all you "news hawks" cant find this stuff when it actually happens!
Larry, you can reach me at alberto.garcia.85@hotmail.com and we can set something up if still interested! |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:18 pm |
|
|
Al Garcia
Guest
|
Hey RAP,
When I first posted this info, I got it from a news site in Flint, It is and WAS public record! |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:20 pm |
|
|
Guest
|
quote:
rapunzel schreef:
Larry,
If you make a drive by to Maine, the most exclusive crime free, wonderful state of the union. Ask Stephen King to send a very mean clown to our friend Al Garcia (Al GI- as in pond scum) or at least grab the back of al's boxers and pull them over his ears.
RAP
You got that right RAP.....most wonderful state in the union...you should try it sometime! |
|
|
|
Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:23 pm |
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
