Wilkerson Arrested By FBI On Corruption Allegations

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BOSTON - October 28, 2008 - Massachusetts state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday and charged with accepting $23,500 in bribes from undercover agents she believed were local businessmen.

Wilkerson was charged with attempted extortion as a public official and theft of honest services as a state senator. Photographs taken from surveillance video include one showing her allegedly stuffing money under her shirt.

She faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines on each count.

"Public service is a privilege, and voters and taxpayers expect that elected officials will do what's right for their constituents, not what is financially best for themselves," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said. "The citizens of the Commonwealth deserve honest and faithful services from elected officials, uncompromised by secret payments of cash."

Wilkerson's attorney, Max Stern, did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press for comment.

Wilkerson, 53, lost a close Democratic primary in September to Sonia Chang-Diaz, but was running a sticker campaign against her in the Nov. 4 election to retain the seat she has held since 1993. Among the allegations, she is accused of urging an undercover agent to help her raise $10,000 of the up to $70,000 needed for a primary recount.

Despite a number of legal and ethical charges throughout her term, Wilkerson remained popular in her Boston district and was supported in her primary bid by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick. Sullivan said it was "coincidental" the complaint was filed a week before the election.

There was no evidence other lawmakers were involved in the bribery scheme, he said.

Senate President Therese Murray, who had endorsed Wilkerson and campaigned with her, said she was seeking an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee and would remove the senator from her post as chairwoman of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

The governor said the allegations were "troubling and sad."

"These are very serious charges and I will trust the judicial process to take them seriously," he said.

Senate Republican Leader Richard Tisei called on her to resign.

An FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Boston includes a series of still photographs from video recordings allegedly showing Wilkerson accepting cash, in one case talking the money and stuffing it under her sweater and inside her bra. She allegedly took one payment earlier this month outside her Roxbury office.

In one part of the criminal complaint, an undercover agent asks Wilkerson if a second agent has been "taking care" of her.

"Sure has," Wilkerson is quoted as saying. "And believe me, they're very, very, very much appreciated."

Sullivan said Wilkerson accepted eight payments, ranging in amounts from $500 to $10,000, during the 17-month investigation. Some of the meetings discussing the payments or the actions Wilkerson would take occurred in the Statehouse.

According to the complaint, between June 2007 and March 2008, Wilkerson allegedly took $8,500 in cash payments from an undercover agent and a cooperating witness to help a proposed nightclub in her district, named Dejavu, get a liquor license.

She allegedly pressured the Boston License Board, Menino and the City Council on behalf of the nightclub, and delayed legislation that would have increased the salaries of members of the licensing board.

"I pushed the envelope farther than it's ever been pushed before," Wilkerson allegedly told the agent.

She also said "I've been beating people up" for action, and spoke of "people who's knees I had to crack."

Between June and October, she also allegedly accepted $15,000 in payments in exchange for helping an undercover officer posing as a businessman avoid the bidding process to develop state property in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

During one transaction caught on videotape on June 18, 2007, Wilkerson took a payment and stuffed it inside her sweater at the bar at No. 9 Park restaurant on Beacon Hill. The money was allegedly handed to Wilkerson by a cooperating witness who Wilkerson promised to help obtain the liquor license.

During another transaction at the Fill-A-Buster restaurant on Beacon Hill, a cooperating witness handed Wilkerson $1,000 in cash, telling her she had earned the money and should "knock yourself out." The handoff was made while Wilkerson's granddaughter, who had accompanied her to the lunch, was away from the table, according to the complaint.

Wilkerson told the witness she planned to go to the spa at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut that weekend, the complaint said.

The new charges are the latest in a string of troubles to plague the lawmaker.

On Friday, the state Bar Counsel filed a complaint against Wilkerson accusing her of lying under oath in an effort to overturn her nephew's voluntary manslaughter conviction. The penalty could include disbarment.

She was sentenced to house arrest in December 1997 after pleading guilty to failing to pay $51,000 in federal income taxes in the early 1990s.

Over the years, she also has paid thousands in fines to settle allegations of failing to account for donations and personal reimbursements for her campaign and political action committee and for failing to properly report that a bank she lobbied for as senator was paying her more than $20,000 a year as a consultant.