Friday, March 09, 2012

Breathitt superintendent arrested on federal vote-buying charges

This from the Herald-Leader:
The top school official in Breathitt County conspired to buy votes in 2010 and lied to an FBI agent about it, a federal grand jury has charged.
Superintendent Arch Turner also tried to persuade a witness to withhold information from authorities about the alleged vote-buying, and even provided the person with a false script of what to say if contacted by authorities, according to the indictment...
Turner, 65, is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted...

The indictment charges that in October and November 2010, Turner conspired to buy votes and took cash out of his bank account to bribe voters.
On Oct. 27, 2010, Turner allegedly lied to Clay Mason — then an FBI agent and now Lexington's public-safety commissioner — about his activities. Turner said he had not given anyone money for election purposes in May 2010, when in fact he had given a candidate money to buy votes, according to the indictment. The third charge against him is that from May 2010 to February 2012, he tried to get someone not to talk to authorities about the alleged illegal activities. Turner told the person, who was not identified in the indictment, that the FBI had no evidence and that the only way they could get in trouble was if they told on themselves, the indictment said.
The charges against Turner are related to two other cases in which a total of nine people were charged last year with conspiracy and with buying votes...
There were reports...about long lines of people waiting to vote at the courthouse during the early-voting period before the May primary..."It just spiked a big red flag," Mason said. There also were reports of alleged attempts to pay voters on Election Day, Mason said...

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