Former Probate Judge Jordan pleads guilty to extortion; investigation into corruption by Cherokee County Commission "active and ongoing"

By Scott Wright | June 30, 2004 | The Post | Cherokee County, AL

CENTRE - Former Cherokee County Probate Judge Phillip Jordan will plead guilty to extortion in a far-reaching bribery case that remains under investigation, federal prosecutors announced Thursday morning.

Jordan resigned his office Monday afternoon in a letter to Gov. Bob Riley, apparently in anticipation of Thursday's announcement.

An indictment leveled by the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham charges that Jordan received as much as $65,000, sometimes disguised as payments for cattle or hay, from developer Clayton "Lanny" Young, Jr., who constructed the Three Corners Landfill in southwestern Cherokee County in the late 1990s.

Young was also indicted last week.

U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin said during a Thursday morning press conference in her Birmingham office that Jordan is cooperating with authorities. She said the investigation is ongoing and insinuated that other county officials may ultimately be charged with wrongdoing.

"Our investigation into local corruption of business matters before the Cherokee County Commission is continuing," said Martin. "I urge individuals who are involved in illegal activity to come forward now. Assisting law enforcement is now the best way of assisting yourself and potentially limiting criminal exposure. I also encourage citizens with information to contact the FBI."

A spokesman from the Birmingham office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed yesterday that several other elected officials in Cherokee County are the subject of an active criminal investigation. Special Agent Jeff Fuqua told The Post that investigators from the state examiner's office, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are all investigating potential cases of corruption in Cherokee County. He said the investigation encompasses several county officials and includes a lot of legal work.

"I can tell you that the investigation deals with several illegal activities, including kickbacks and bribery," Fuqua said.

Devil's in the details

In last week's nine-count indictment against Young, the developer is charged with, among other crimes, conspiring with Jordan to influence development and operation of the a landfill in southwestern Cherokee County near the Pine Grove community.

Specifically, the indictment alleges, Young paid Jordan to use his position as chairman of the Cherokee County Commission to convince the commissioners to approve amendments to a contract granting an expansion of service areas for the Three Corners Landfill from certain counties in Alabama to include areas in certain parts of Georgia and Tennessee. The April 13, 1998 vote also okayed the transfer of a majority stock interest in Young's company, Alabama Waste Disposal Solutions (AWDS), which allowed him to sell the company and profit as much as $3 million, according to testimony in a civil court case in Montgomery. The Commission's vote also changed the amount Cherokee County officials, as the host government of the landfill, were able to charge for use of the landfill.

In the court documents, Jordan is accused of receiving payments from Young as "influence and reward" in exchange for the use of influence he yielded as chairman of the Commission to persuade the commissioners to vote according to Young's wishes. The four other members of the County Commission were -- and still are -- Harold Woodall, Earl Westbrook, Dale Welsh and Kathryn Black. Woodall and Westbrook are up for reelection in 2006. Welsh is retiring at the end of the year and Black's term will end in January after she was voted out of office in a runoff election on June 29.

According to a July 1 press release from Martin's office, Jordan admitted to receiving between $20,000 and $30,000 in cash between late 1997 and during 1998, and an additional $36,000 in bribery payments between June 1999 and March 2000. Jordan also admitted he used his influence with other members of the County Commission to ensure other contractual changes Young sought to the landfill agreement would be approved.

Jordan received the bribes in the form of multiple checks of several thousand dollars each written by Young made out to Darrell Jordan, who does not exist, and Betty Jordan, the wife of a cousin of Jordan's. Apparently, the checks were subsequently cashed at a Compass Bank in Fort Payne by a third party and the money was returned to Jordan.

The Gadsden Times reported on July 2 that former DeKalb County Probate Judge Paul Thomas, who fell to his death near his home in Fort Payne on June 24, was the "third party" who cashed the checks and returned the money to Jordan.

Thomas, who turned 60 the day before falling over the 45-foot-high cliff, was declared dead at the scene. A landscaper working in the yard with Thomas that day said he last saw Thomas approach the cliff alone holding a bowl of table scraps.

FBI officials, who were in Thomas's office about a month before, ultimately ordered an autopsy to try and determine if Thomas fell or was pushed. DeKalb County Coroner Tom Wilson told the Times he received a verbal autopsy report from the state indicated that Thomas died from blunt head trauma from an accidental fall.

Federal officials would neither confirm nor deny whether Thomas was being investigated in relation to the charges against Young and Jordan.

Young was charged with conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and violation of the Hobbs Act, which covers a range of crimes including extortion and interference with interstate commerce. Jordan pleaded guilty to a Hobbs Act violation. He has already submitted his plea agreement in U.S. District Court.

The former head of an organization that opposed the construction of the Three Corners Landfill told the Gadsden Times last week he was not surprised by corruption charges being filed against Young and Jordan.

"(Young) tried to get me," Piedmont resident Larry Evans, 61, told the Times. "He tried to get me on the take when all this was going on. He wanted to know how much would satisfy me. I told him he could only satisfy me if he packed his bags and got out of town."

Evans told the Times he had a certified public accountant run some figures and he estimates the Cherokee County Commission gave away millions of dollars in revenue by agreeing to vote the way Young and Jordan wanted.

"The contract was already signed, the county was to get 8 percent of the gross receipts," Evans told the Times. "They traded it off for 6 percent. It comes to $7 million throughout the life of the life of the landfill."

Cherokee/DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O'Dell said his office does not plan an investigation into the operations of the County Commission because the FBI has more authority to conduct a wide-open inquiry.

"In something like this, it's always better to allow the organization with the broadest reach to handle the investigation," he said. "In this case, with the charges reaching all the way to the Siegelman administration, the FBI is the right agency to handle things."

Young has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery by providing more than $100,000 in cash and gifts to Nick Bailey, a close aide to former Alabama governor Don Siegelman during his administration, and to underreporting his income to the Internal Revenue Service.

In the mean time

Chief clerk of probate Debbie Bankson has assumed the duties of probate judge and will occupy the position until Gov. Riley appoints a permanent replacement, according to the governor's legal advisor, Ken Wallis.

"The temporary probate judge will be able to conduct all the business of the office except contested cases and competency hearings," Wallis said. "If a case like that came up, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court would appoint someone, probably either a retired judge or retired lawyer, to act as probate judge."

On Tuesday, Chief Justice Drayton Nabers appointed Cherokee County District Judge Sheri Carver and Circuit Judges Randall Cole and Kevin Grimes to handle any contested cases.

Jordan caused a stir in March 2003 when he asked for and received a $7,200-a-year pay raise from the Cherokee County Commission.

With the raise, Jordan's salary rose to just over $85,000 per year. By comparison, DeKalb County's probate judge earns $64,248 a year and Calhoun County's makes $69,056 annually. Etowah County Probate Judge Bobby Junkins makes $138,598, but a local law passed several years ago mandates that his salary increase whenever the state's district judges receive a pay raise. Of the four, Jordan said he was the only probate judge with the additional duties of license commissioner and county commission chairman.

At the time of his election in 1988, Jordan, then 28, was reportedly the youngest probate judge in the state.

Kevin Green, Centre, who owns a construction company and is the former owner of Kev-Co Sales in Leesburg, is among the Cherokee County residents actively campaigning to be appointed by Gov. Riley as Jordan's permanent replacement, a process that a spokesman from the governor's office could take up to several weeks.

Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre, also confirmed to The Post on Wednesday that he spoke with Gov. Riley about the vacant probate judge position. Lindsey said he told the governor he would like to be considered for the job.

Others mentioned as possible permanent replacements for Jordan are Bankson and Leesburg town councilman Kevin Ford.

see also:

Corruption Investigation Interest Stories - Corruption: Former Probate Judge Jordan pleads guilty to extortion
Cherokee County Commission Corruption Investigation:active and ongoing

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