Federal Judge in Boston sentences former senator 3 1/2 years
On Thursday, January 6, 2010, a federal judge sentenced Dianne Wilkerson [former State Senator] to 3 1/2 years in prison in connection with a bribe scandal set-up by shady informant and loan-shark, Ron Wilburn, the house negro also responsible for setting up Roxbury City Councilor Chuck Turner. Judge Douglas P. Woodlock called Ms. Wilkerson "financially embarrassed and fiscally incontinent", adding she had imposed her own "Wilkerson tax" on the community by accepting the bribes. Wilkerson turns herself in March 11 to begin serving her sentence at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. "Chuck Turner and I have always been about the same business," she said. "Some in positions of power were threatened by our actions, and as a result we became targets" said Ms. Wilkerson outside the courthouse. Wilkerson's lawyer, Max Stern, called the outcome of the case a "tragedy of monumental proportions." Wilkerson pleaded guilty o...