Former Massachusetts State Representative Sentenced www.privateofficer.com

 

BOSTON MA April 11 2013—A former Massachusetts state representative was sentenced today in  federal court for civil rights violations after his role in submitting  fraudulent absentee ballot applications and casting invalid ballots in multiple  elections in 2009 and 2010.
Stephen Smith, 57, of Everett, was sentenced by Magistrate Judge Leo T.  Sorokin to four months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised  release and a $20,000 fine. Smith was ordered to report to prison on May 21,  2013.

On December 20, 2012, Smith pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of  deprivation of rights under color of law. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Smith  was called to resign his position in the Massachusetts House of Representatives  effective January 1, 2013, and is not allowed to seek elected office for five  years.
Smith, as the representative of the 28th Middlesex District, cast invalid  absentee ballots in support of his races for public office for voters who were  ineligible or otherwise unaware of ballots being cast in their names. Smith  submitted fraudulent Massachusetts Official Absentee Applications, which  resulted in the issuance of absentee ballots.

He obtained many of the absentee  ballots and cause them to be delivered to the ineligible voters, who would then  cast votes despite lacking any eligibility to do so, or Smith would cast the  ballots himself.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent  in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Boston Field Division made the  announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia  M. Carris of Ortiz’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

Chelsea bouncer charged with stabbing patron www.privateofficer.com

 

Chelsea MA May 24 2012 A bouncer at a Chelsea strip joint is being held on $50,000 cash bail on charges he stabbed a club-goer 10 times in the head, neck and chest after clocking out and tailing the drunken victim when he was booted from the club, authorities said.

Jody Lassiter, 49, of Everett, had argued with the victim, a 33-year-old Somerville man, earlier in the night on May 15, and then started a fight with him steps from the front entrance of King Arthur’s Lounge, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

The bloody brouhaha sent the victim to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition before being released five days later, authorities said.

Lassiter, meanwhile, had “fled into the night,” Chelsea police said. The victim had been kicked out of the club after he became “visibly drunk and belligerent,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Lassiter, a “floor man” at the club, was arraigned yesterday in Chelsea District Court, where Judge D. Dunbar Livingstone imposed the hefty bail, authorities said.

The situation sparked memories of past violence at the Beacham Street club, including a brutal shooting spree in 2008 when authorities said 280-pound “Fat Jesse” Camacho unleashed a hail of bullets, killing 28-year-old Jeffrey Santiago as he lay face down on the floor.

Camacho, who also injured two others during the bullet-laden barroom brawl, was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison without parole, but only after authorities tracked him down in Mexico.

Police were also called to the club in December for an alleged dancer-on-dancer attack. Eva Jimenez, 30, is facing charges she slashed a 21-year-old co-worker in the face with a box-cutter when she accused Jimenez of stealing money from her, costing Jimenez her job, authorities said