Cheap copy Van Cleef and Arpelscuff bangle Really don't overlook from zroessgs viesoess's blog
Bribed Jurors Get 5 Years In Prison
2 Took Money For Acquittals In 1996 Cocaine Trial
January 15, 2004By Ann W.
Jurors Gloria Alba, 31, and Maria del Carmen Penalver, 30, tearfully received five year prison sentences in what is believed to be the largest federal jury tampering scandal in modern history. Attorney Marcos Daniel JimM inez. "They struck at the very heart of our system of justice." He added that prosecutors looked but could not find another federal case with more than one corrupt juror.
Alba pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice, admitting she took $300,000 of a promised $1 million bribe. Penalver, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice, pocketed about $20,000.
Three others were caught in the scandal: Alba's husband Isael, 41, who was sentenced Wednesday to four years and nine months in prison; their admitted bag man, Raul Sarraff, 48, who received five years; and Penalver's former boyfriend, Gerald Rodriguez, 29, who drew a six month sentence for lying to the FBI about her bribe.
"These are good people who did a very bad thing," said the Albas' lawyer,cartier love bracelet replica, Ruben Oliva. "They had an enormous blind spot when presented with what was an immense carrot."
The money was easy to spend. Alba,bracelet love, who was 23 when she served as a juror, was able to quit her job and stay at home with her two children. She and her husband took expensive vacations and fixed up their house.
Now that house has been sold and the money forfeited to the government.
Penalver, who was 21, spent her bribe money on trendy designer accessories, including an expensive Fendi handbag, expensive watches for herself and her boyfriend, and an $8,500 Kia automobile, paid for with cash. District Judge Paul C. Huck ordered all defendants except Gloria Alba immediately taken into custody. Alba was given a reprieve until Feb. 18 so that she could help her children settle in with relatives, who will care for them while their parents are in prison.
As federal marshals prepared to handcuff her husband, Alba wiped tears from her eyes, putting his tie, watch and belt into her purse.
Earlier, she told the judge in a quavering voice how she explained her crime to her daughter. The child responded: "Mom, that's wrong. You should have gone to the police." She added, "If an 8 year old knows that, I can't ask you for anything."
Penalver pleaded for mercy, saying she felt pressured and intimidated by a jury foreman in the pocket of the violent men they'd been sworn to judge. It was easier to take their tainted drug money than to say no.
"I really wasn't interested in the monetary part," she said. Attorney Michael Davis noted, Penalver wasn't too afraid to call corrupt jury foreman Miguel Moya and reach out for her money the morning after they pushed other jurors to acquit two of Miami's biggest cocaine cowboys,cartier bangle with diamonds, Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon.
The prison sentences culminated a four year investigation launched after the acquittals devastated federal prosecutors in Miami. Justice Department's most high profile loss in a drug case. Prosecutors and agents, convinced something went awry, focused their energy and resources on getting to the bottom of it.
They conducted an exhaustive analysis of jurors' spending habits, tax returns and bank records, IRS special agent Dennis Donnell said. When confronted last year, Alba and Penalver admitted they sold their verdicts.
Besides Alba and Penalver, jury foreman Moya was prosecuted for taking bribe money and wearing down other jurors during deliberations. He was convicted in 1999 and is serving a 17 year sentence.
Moya was easy to catch. After delivering the not guilty verdicts,diamond love bracelet, his lifestyle improved dramatically. He spent $210,727 for a home in the Keys, $31,000 for a boat, took a trip to Hawaii and bought two sports cars and a Rolex watch.
But investigators didn't stop with the foreman, who offered Penalver her bribe during a break midway through the trial.
Alba's bribe money came from Sarraff, a family friend. He worked with a partner who was a childhood friend of Magluta's. The friend, who had his own problems with the law, told investigators he had passed about $900,000 from Magluta to Sarraff.
When confronted, Sarraff agreed to turn informant and went undercover last March. He wore a recording device, capturing the Albas agreeing to accept another $50,000 bribe for their silence during an upcoming trial. They spent nearly $14,000 before their arrest just days later.
"I think it's time to turn the page on the Sal Magluta saga. Let's close the book and move on," said Thomas Raffanello, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office.
It is a tale that inspired the opening credits of the 1980s TV hit Miami Vice.
High school friends Falcon and Magluta used their avocation, racing sleek speedboats, to build a $2 billion cocaine transporting franchise, one of the world's largest. Falcon and Magluta, both 48, are serving sentences of 20 and 205 years, respectively, for corrupting their trial.
The two high living cocaine smugglers used millions of laundered drug dollars to undermine the criminal justice system by bribing witnesses and jurors, even from jail. In the end, about 40 people, including a fourth of the duo's 1996 jury, were sent to federal prison. They also were suspected but never convicted of the murders of several witnesses.
2 Took Money For Acquittals In 1996 Cocaine Trial
January 15, 2004By Ann W.
Jurors Gloria Alba, 31, and Maria del Carmen Penalver, 30, tearfully received five year prison sentences in what is believed to be the largest federal jury tampering scandal in modern history. Attorney Marcos Daniel JimM inez. "They struck at the very heart of our system of justice." He added that prosecutors looked but could not find another federal case with more than one corrupt juror.
Alba pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice, admitting she took $300,000 of a promised $1 million bribe. Penalver, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice, pocketed about $20,000.
Three others were caught in the scandal: Alba's husband Isael, 41, who was sentenced Wednesday to four years and nine months in prison; their admitted bag man, Raul Sarraff, 48, who received five years; and Penalver's former boyfriend, Gerald Rodriguez, 29, who drew a six month sentence for lying to the FBI about her bribe.
"These are good people who did a very bad thing," said the Albas' lawyer,cartier love bracelet replica, Ruben Oliva. "They had an enormous blind spot when presented with what was an immense carrot."
The money was easy to spend. Alba,bracelet love, who was 23 when she served as a juror, was able to quit her job and stay at home with her two children. She and her husband took expensive vacations and fixed up their house.
Now that house has been sold and the money forfeited to the government.
Penalver, who was 21, spent her bribe money on trendy designer accessories, including an expensive Fendi handbag, expensive watches for herself and her boyfriend, and an $8,500 Kia automobile, paid for with cash. District Judge Paul C. Huck ordered all defendants except Gloria Alba immediately taken into custody. Alba was given a reprieve until Feb. 18 so that she could help her children settle in with relatives, who will care for them while their parents are in prison.
As federal marshals prepared to handcuff her husband, Alba wiped tears from her eyes, putting his tie, watch and belt into her purse.
Earlier, she told the judge in a quavering voice how she explained her crime to her daughter. The child responded: "Mom, that's wrong. You should have gone to the police." She added, "If an 8 year old knows that, I can't ask you for anything."
Penalver pleaded for mercy, saying she felt pressured and intimidated by a jury foreman in the pocket of the violent men they'd been sworn to judge. It was easier to take their tainted drug money than to say no.
"I really wasn't interested in the monetary part," she said. Attorney Michael Davis noted, Penalver wasn't too afraid to call corrupt jury foreman Miguel Moya and reach out for her money the morning after they pushed other jurors to acquit two of Miami's biggest cocaine cowboys,cartier bangle with diamonds, Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon.
The prison sentences culminated a four year investigation launched after the acquittals devastated federal prosecutors in Miami. Justice Department's most high profile loss in a drug case. Prosecutors and agents, convinced something went awry, focused their energy and resources on getting to the bottom of it.
They conducted an exhaustive analysis of jurors' spending habits, tax returns and bank records, IRS special agent Dennis Donnell said. When confronted last year, Alba and Penalver admitted they sold their verdicts.
Besides Alba and Penalver, jury foreman Moya was prosecuted for taking bribe money and wearing down other jurors during deliberations. He was convicted in 1999 and is serving a 17 year sentence.
Moya was easy to catch. After delivering the not guilty verdicts,diamond love bracelet, his lifestyle improved dramatically. He spent $210,727 for a home in the Keys, $31,000 for a boat, took a trip to Hawaii and bought two sports cars and a Rolex watch.
But investigators didn't stop with the foreman, who offered Penalver her bribe during a break midway through the trial.
Alba's bribe money came from Sarraff, a family friend. He worked with a partner who was a childhood friend of Magluta's. The friend, who had his own problems with the law, told investigators he had passed about $900,000 from Magluta to Sarraff.
When confronted, Sarraff agreed to turn informant and went undercover last March. He wore a recording device, capturing the Albas agreeing to accept another $50,000 bribe for their silence during an upcoming trial. They spent nearly $14,000 before their arrest just days later.
"I think it's time to turn the page on the Sal Magluta saga. Let's close the book and move on," said Thomas Raffanello, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office.
It is a tale that inspired the opening credits of the 1980s TV hit Miami Vice.
High school friends Falcon and Magluta used their avocation, racing sleek speedboats, to build a $2 billion cocaine transporting franchise, one of the world's largest. Falcon and Magluta, both 48, are serving sentences of 20 and 205 years, respectively, for corrupting their trial.
The two high living cocaine smugglers used millions of laundered drug dollars to undermine the criminal justice system by bribing witnesses and jurors, even from jail. In the end, about 40 people, including a fourth of the duo's 1996 jury, were sent to federal prison. They also were suspected but never convicted of the murders of several witnesses.
The Wall