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  Former Legislator to Plead Guilty to New Federal Charges

By Bill Rankin
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
May 15, 2008

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/05/15/sailor_0516.html

Ron Sailor Jr., already stripped of his seat in the Legislature for laundering money for a purported drug dealer, will plead guilty next month to new federal charges, according to court records.

In March, Sailor, then a Democratic legislator representing parts of DeKalb and Rockdale counties, pleaded guilty to money laundering. At the plea, federal prosecutors disclosed Sailor had agreed to launder $375,000 in drug proceeds for an undercover agent who was posing as a narcotics dealer.

Sailor was scheduled to be sentenced for money laundering by U.S. District Judge Jack Camp next Thursday. But that hearing has been canceled because Sailor will plead guilty to new charges on June 17, according to a notice filed in Sailor's case this week.

Although the filing does not specify the new charges, lawyers for Sailor's former church have told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they are trying to recover $250,000 that Sailor obtained after secretly mortgaging the church just days before entering his guilty plea.

After finding out about the mortgage, Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church fired Sailor as its pastor. Records showed that Sailor, who had changed the church's bylaws to make himself chief executive officer, borrowed $250,000 using the church's buildings and 2.5-acre property as collateral. A Church attorney has said no one was authorized to take out such a mortgage.

Mitchell Bagwell, attorney for the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church, said Thursday he has not been in touch with federal prosecutors and has not heard about any additional charges for Sailor. Sailor's lawyer, Bruce Maloy, declined comment. Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, also declined comment.

Sailor entered his guilty plea during the recent legislative session where Sailor had missed more than 90 percent of his votes. The reason for his absenteeism, federal prosecutors said, was that when Sailer was caught in the sting last December, he began cooperating in an ongoing public corruption probe. No charges have been filed stemming from this investigation.

 
 

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