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Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charge

Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charge

By Ely Portillo and Elizabeth Leland, The Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to a federal public corruption charge, and now faces up to 20 years in prison.

The plea capped a four-year investigation in which he took bribes in exchange for the promise of helping developers.

He entered a guilty plea to one count of honest services wire fraud, a charge commonly used in cases where a public official takes kickbacks or bribes. After the hearing, Cannon said he regretted having broken the public trust, and that he would still try to have a positive impact on Charlotte.

“Much has been given to me in the way of the public’s trust. I regret having acted in ways that broke that trust,” said Cannon, speaking outside the courthouse. “I love Charlotte. It is the city of my birth. I regret having hurt the city that I love.”

Cannon will be sentenced at a separate hearing in the coming months. The charge carries up to a 20-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

As he walked into the courthouse Tuesday morning, Cannon tripped and fell as he walked through the crowd of television cameras and reporters wielding microphones.

Dressed in a conservative business suit, Cannon appeared in court flanked by his two attorneys.

The hearing consisted of routine questions by the judge and answers by Cannon. The details had been worked out beforehand between the attorneys in private.

“You fully understand the charge against you?” U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer asked Cannon.

“Yes sir, your honor,” Cannon replied.

At the hearing, Cannon appeared emotional at times, but did not break down.

“Are you in fact guilty of the one count?” Clark asked.

“Yes sir, your honor. I am guilty,” Cannon replied.

Cannon’s wife, Trenna Cannon, did not come to federal court.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Cannon declined a chance to address the court. He delivered a brief prepared statement outside of the federal courthouse.

“For nearly half my life, I have had the honor of serving the people of Charlotte,” Cannon said.

“Today, I have acknowledged being guilty of accepting money for constituent services, which I never should have done while serving in elected office,” said Cannon, a Democrat.

He asked for forgiveness, and praised his attorneys, Henderson Hill and James Ferguson.

“I can only hope the life I live from now on will reflect my remorse and my desire to make a positive impact on the city of Charlotte,” said Cannon. He didn’t take questions, and left immediately afterward.

Cannon has promised to cooperate with the investigation as part of his plea deal. In return, prosecutors have said they won’t use any additional evidence Cannon provides to push for a harsher sentence.

Federal prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing, and charges against new targets remain a possibility.

The “developers” Cannon accepted bribes from were undercover FBI agents. They said Cannon took bribes totaling almost $50,000, as well as gifts such as a trip to Las Vegas.

In a criminal bill of information outlining the charges against him, investigators said Cannon also took bribes from a Charlotte club owner seeking help to keep an adult entertainment club open in the face of the Lynx Blue Line extension.

During the investigation, Cannon bragged of his influence over various city functions and officials, according to the FBI. He assured the undercover agents that he could smooth out any problems developers might face.

His boasts included having power over the police, fire and zoning departments. Cannon called city employees on behalf of the “developers,” and said his support had been key to past development successes, such as the Metropolitan near uptown.

Photo via Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/MCT

Former Charlotte Mayor Expected To Plead Guilty To Corruption Charge

Former Charlotte Mayor Expected To Plead Guilty To Corruption Charge

By Michael Gordon and Rick Rothacker, The Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a federal public corruption charge that carries up to a 20-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

According to court documents released to the public early Monday, Cannon will appear in federal court at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer. At that time, he will plead to one count of honest services wire fraud, an umbrella charge commonly used in cases where public officials take kickbacks or bribes, documents say.

The charge basically means the 48-year-old Democrat used his mayoral and city council posts for illegal gain, depriving city residents of his “honest services” as their elected representative.

Cannon did not answer the door at his house Monday morning. Asked why his client had agreed to plead guilty rather than fight the charges in court, attorney James Ferguson said Monday morning that he could not comment.

Honest services fraud is one of the three corruption charges leveled against Cannon at his March 26 arrest. At the time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office accused him of accepting almost $50,000 in bribes. In exchange, Cannon promised to use his office to assist real estate deals pitched by undercover FBI agents posing as out-of-town investors.

Cannon, who is free on a $25,000 unsecured bond, will be sentenced at a later date.

While it raises the amount of bribes Cannon is accused of taking to as much as $70,000, the so-called bill of information released Monday does not include charges against any new targets. But those are still possible.

“This investigation did not end with Patrick Cannon’s arrest,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins told The Charlotte Observer on Monday.

According to the new document, Cannon is accused of soliciting and accepting a series of bribes from a Charlotte businessman, identified as “Businessman #1,” whose adult entertainment club was in the path of the Blue Line Extension through north Charlotte.

In January 2013, prosecutors say Cannon pocketed $2,000 from the club’s owner to influence zoning, planning and transportation department to make it easier for the night spot to stay in business.

Twin Peeks, owned by Charlotte strip club mogul David “Slim” Baucom, fits the description of the property. Baucom’s club, adjoining the Blue Line Extension, was demolished in June 2013 but could be rebuilt on the remainder of the lot, according to Charlotte Area Transit System documents.

Contacted by the Observer earlier this year, Baucom said he barely knew Cannon and had not been questioned by the FBI.

An Observer reporter who was outside of Baucom’s home in Cabarrus County on Monday morning was ordered off the property. An employee at Baucom’s MAL Entertainment on North Tryon Street said the businessman was not at his office. His reserved parking space was empty.

In 2006, Baucom came under scrutiny for making a $4,000 campaign contribution to a Charlotte-based political action committee, which had funneled the money to then-North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black without reporting it.

Asked Monday afternoon if action is pending against Baucom in connection with the Cannon case, a spokeswoman for Tompkins said prosecutors cannot comment on an open investigation.

Tompkins said earlier in the day that the charge against Cannon covers illegal conduct stretching from his return to the city council in December 2009 through his March arrest, which took place less than four months after he was sworn in as mayor.

Bills of information take the place of a formal grand jury indictment and are often used in cases involving plea negotiations between the parties.

The other two charges against Cannon involving theft, bribery and extortion that were used in his arrest are not included in the new filing.

Under federal sentencing rules, those additional charges would have had little influence on Cannon’s punishment, legal experts say.

As part of his plea, Cannon has promised to assist the ongoing investigation. In return, prosecutors, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Savage, say they will not use future evidence turned up in the case to push for a harsher sentence against him.

If Cannon fails to meet the standards of cooperation set out in the agreement, however, prosecutors can lobby the judge to hand down the full 20-year sentence.

Photo: Dpmshap via Flickr

Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon Arrested, Accused Of Taking Bribes

Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon Arrested, Accused Of Taking Bribes

By Mark Washburn, Jim Morrill and Mike Gordon, The Charlotte Observer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon was arrested Wednesday on public corruption charges after a four-year investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte announced.

Cannon was charged with theft and bribery after an FBI sting operation, said Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. He was released on an undisclosed bond, pending indictment.

Authorities said Cannon took bribes from undercover FBI agents five times — the most recent on Feb. 21 when he took $20,000 in cash in the mayor’s office — and a trip to Las Vegas.

Tompkins said Cannon also accepted from the undercover agents more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and use of a luxury apartment in exchange for “the use of his official position,” Tompkins said.

Cannon is the longest-serving elected official in Charlotte, having joined the Charlotte City Council in 1993. He is the region’s highest-ranking official to be charged in a corruption case since former North Carolina House speaker Jim Black of Matthews was convicted in 2007.

At a Jan. 17, 2013 meeting, one FBI agent gave Cannon $12,500 in cash by putting it on a coffee table in front of him. Cannon, according to the affidavit, looked nervously toward a window and covered the money with a folder.

After the agent closed the blinds, Cannon put the money to his ear and fanned the bills.

FBI agents, working on a tip that Cannon, 47, was potentially involved in illegal activities, started an investigation in August 2010, Tompkins said in a statement.

Cannon — elected mayor five months ago after a long political career in Charlotte — solicited and accepted cash bribes and other items of value from undercover FBI agents, posing as commercial real estate developers and investors who wanted to do business in Charlotte, Tompkins said.

“On five separate occasions between Jan. 17, 2013 and Feb. 21, 2014, Cannon accepted cash payments from undercover FBI agents in exchange for access to city officials with responsibility for planning, zoning and permitting,” according to an affidavit filed in the case.

FBI agents searched the mayor’s office at the City-County government center, his home and his offices at E-Z Parking Inc.

If found guilty on all charges, Cannon faces up to 50 years in prison and fines of $1.5 million.

Based on a tip from a local law enforcement officer on potential public corruption, the FBI launched its investigation and zeroed in on Cannon in 2011, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Eric Davis.

At the time the probe began, Cannon was a City Council member and mayor pro tem.

Cannon made a brief court appearance Wednesday at the federal courthouse in uptown where he was told, among other things, that he could not be in possession of firearms, according to WCNC-TV.
Cannon declined comment when approached by a WCNC-TV reporter as he left the courthouse, but indicated he might talk later. “At this point, there’s nothing to respond to,” Cannon said.

Photo: The.Comedian via Flickr