GO TO JAIL! Corrupt Dem Mayor Could Get 20 Years For Youth Basketball Rip Off

He could have been a contender…

Yet another crooked Democrat has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and is going to end paying a big price as a result.

The Dem mayor of Atlantic City, NJ has tendered his resignation following this despicable theft of tens of thousands of dollars from a youth basketball club.

Frank Gilliam – who eerily resembles Cory Booker – admitted that he ripped off $87,000 from the AC Starz team that he founded and used the skimmed loot for “personal expenses” from 2013 and 2018.

It was a span when the corrupt Dem served as a city council member until he was elected mayor in 2017.

Now he is looking at up to twenty years in the iron bar hotel on federal corruption charges.

Via AP, “Atlantic City mayor pleads guilty to stealing, resigns”:

Atlantic City’s mayor pleaded guilty to stealing $87,000 from a youth basketball team and resigned from office Thursday, becoming the latest in a line of corrupt city officials so long that it spawned a hit HBO TV series.

Frank Gilliam Jr. appeared in federal court in Camden, where it emerged that half of the amount of money he took from the Atlantic City Starz was recovered from his home when FBI agents raided it last December. He was released after posting a $100,000 bond with the court.

By the close of the business day, the Democrat had resigned from office.

“It is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as the Mayor of the City of Atlantic City, effective immediately,” Gilliam wrote in a letter filed with the city clerk. “My sincere apologies to each constituent that voted for me and had high hopes in my tenure.”

The resignation came as New Jersey officials began working to remove him from office.

At his court appearance, Gilliam told U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez he stole funds raised from basketball team donors in Atlantic City and Philadelphia, using the money for personal expenses from 2013 to 2018. He was elected mayor in 2017 after serving as a city councilman.

“When a scheme depletes (a) charity for children, it’s unconscionable,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory Ehrie. “But when the fraud is perpetrated by someone the public trusts, it damages the community’s confidence in their public servants. This defendant betrayed the trust of his community and of people who wanted to improve the lives of children.”

Additional details via The Press Of Atlantic City:

Gilliam’s election prompted charges of substantial vote fraud by his opponent. Mayor Don Guardian provided a lot of evidence for his claim that a couple thousand votes were paid for or cast by deceased or nonresident people. One witness recorded getting paid $30 to vote for Gilliam’s Democratic ticket, while another’s deposition described being among 11 people driven to the county clerk’s office to submit ballots that only allowed votes for Democrats. The state Attorney General’s Office rejected Guardian’s pleas for an investigation.

A year after his election, Gilliam and city Councilman Jeffree Fauntleroy got into a fight, recorded on security video, with staff outside a nightclub in the city. Fauntleroy paid a fine and charges were dismissed against Gilliam, who settled a civil suit by the nightclub director. Settlement terms weren’t disclosed, of course.

FBI and IRS criminal investigators the following month searched Gilliam’s home, removing boxes of evidence and beginning the probe that ended last week in his conviction.

A few months after that, Gilliam attempted to muzzle city workers, sending a memo to all city directors requiring prior approval in writing from his office before speaking to the media about anything.

In a state that boasts two of the most crooked Dems in Washington in Sens Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, Gilliam fits right in and would have been a player if he hadn’t gotten caught.

LOCK HIM UP!