Ex-mayor pleads guilty to 243 felonies

[Judi Lynn]

Dec. 1, 2006, 1:20AM
Ex-mayor pleads guilty to 243 felonies

© 2006 The Associated Press

WISE, Va. — The former mayor of a tiny coal town who prosecutors say masterminded a scheme to buy votes with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds, pleaded guilty Thursday to 243 felonies, including vote-rigging and corruption.

Wise County Circuit Judge Tammy McElyea made former Appalachia mayor Ben Cooper plead individually to each of the charges against him, which included stealing election records, forging ballots, hindering the rights of citizens to vote freely, voting more than once in an election and violating absentee voting procedures.

By the time she reached the 11th charge, Cooper, 64, was saying "guilty" before she had finished reading the charge.

"You're getting ahead of me," she said, to which Cooper apologized.

During the trial of one of 13 people accused of conspiring with Cooper, prosecutors portrayed the ex-mayor as being the key figure in a plot to rig a 2004 election in Appalachia, 91 miles northeast of Knoxville, Tenn. They said the accused conspirators intercepted absentee ballots from the mail, filled them out and forged the signatures of the intended voters.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4371499.html

[Ecumenist]

1. Tell me that he's a republican...please....

I cannot imagine this situation if he was a Democrat. Besides, based on what he's accused of, it sounds like a classic republican election scheme.

[Judi Lynn]

3. His name came up several months ago, or more, and some DU'ers had a good laugh

then. We looked up other articles on him, as he is surely too strange to seem real. I am certain we discovered he is a Republican, as we kept on laughing, which wouldn't have happened with so much humor if we had learned this creep somehow got into the Democratic Party!

I did a quick grab, and found the following (you can be sure the more you find on this guy, the stranger it all gets!):

Saturday, September 09, 2006E-mail this story Print this story Get RSS feeds Share this story Digg this story Mark in Ma.gnolia Tag with del.icio.us Seed Newsvine Post to Google Add to Yahoo! Share on Facebook Submit to Reddit Related at Technorati Appalachia defendants agree to cooperate
Twelve of fourteen charged in the election fraud case have signed letters of cooperation with the prosecutor.
By Laurence Hammack
981-3239

What's been called the biggest election fraud scandal in recent state history is not likely to produce a trial of similar proportions.

Of the 14 people charged earlier this year in a scheme to buy, steal or fabricate votes in the 2004 Appalachia town elections, 12 of them -- including former Mayor Ben Cooper -- have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

That leaves just one person, a former postal worker charged with stealing absentee ballots from the mail for two candidates, to contest the charges at an October trial that once held the prospect of having more defendants than jurors.

The final defendant who has not signed a letter of agreement with prosecutors, a former Appalachia police officer, will likely be tried later in the year, special prosecutor Tim McAfee said this week.

In March, a state police investigation into election fraud in Appalachia, a small coal-mining town just miles from the Kentucky border, culminated when a Wise County grand jury returned a 300-page indictment alleging widespread corruption and police misconduct.

Fourteen people were charged with nearly 1,000 crimes related to an alleged scheme to buy votes in the municipal elections with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds. In some cases, absentee ballots were stolen from the mail and fraudulently cast for a slate of candidates that included Cooper, the indictment alleges.
(snip/...)

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/81870

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Local story on his control of votes:

Defense tries to shift suspicion from mail carrier to postmaster
Published 10/10/2006 By STEPHEN IGO


WISE - The defense attempted to shift suspicion away from former mail carrier Don Estridge and toward Appalachia's former postmaster as the Appalachia election fraud trial resumed Tuesday.

Estridge is accused of handing over absentee ballots to conspirators who then forged them to steal victory in the 2004 Appalachia town election.
(snip)

The first defense witness called by Rivers on Tuesday was James "Freddy" Poff, a mail clerk at the Appalachia Post Office currently assigned as an officer-in-charge of the Keokee Post Office. Poff testified that former Appalachia Mayor Ben Cooper was a frequent visitor to the workroom floor at the post office in 2004, a violation of Postal Service rules.

The postmaster of the Appalachia facility in 2004 was Pat Cooper, Ben Cooper's brother.

Poff said the first time he knew there was an investigation into the 2004 town elections that would involve the Appalachia Post Office was when Pat Cooper told him investigators "were coming" to interview workers and that another mail clerk in the facility had already been questioned. He said Pat Cooper told him investigators "we're going to be fishing around to find out if Ben had been out on the workroom floor."

The next day, Poff said the postmaster told employees he was planning to retire. Several days after that, Poff said the postmaster went to work shredding papers in his office.

"It was pretty well going nonstop," Poff said of Pat Cooper's paper-shredding task. "I don't know how many days, but several days."

At some point, Poff said Pat Cooper asked Poff what he intended to tell investigators. Poff said he told Pat Cooper "the truth."

Poff said the postmaster went into his office and wouldn't speak to him the rest of the day.

Under cross-examination by McAfee, Poff said he and the other mail clerk were a little jealous that their families could not access the workroom floor while Pat Cooper's brother could. He denied telling an investigator that he believed Ben Cooper "hounded" Estridge about absentee ballots in the weeks prior to the election.

One morning, Poff said Ben Cooper inquired of postal workers "in general" about absentee ballots.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3686215

[some guy]

2. ooh justice!

:sarcasm:

" Cooper is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9 and could get up to 21 months in prison, based on state sentencing guidelines. His plea agreement left sentencing up to the judge. "

That's what? a whopping three days or so per felony conviction?

I wonder if Tennessee has a 243 strikes law in place.

[Lasher]

5. Appalachia is in western Virginia

It's close to the Tennessee state line but still in Virginia.

[some guy]

7. *blush*

:blush:

oops, I didn't read that as well as I might have, eh?

I must have got Tennessee from this: " 91 miles northeast of Knoxville, Tenn. "

Thanks for the correction. Does Virginia have a 243 strikes law? :)

:hi:

[Lasher]

8. I thought it was in Tennessee too, the article's wording promotes that conclusion

I've been using The Google to search on the internets, hoping to determine if this guy was a Publican or Democrat. With all the stuff flying around about this, it's remarkable that I have so far found no indication of his party affiliation. It almost seems this information is being suppressed.

Anyway, it was during that fishing expedition that I learned it is in Virginia. I don't think VA has a 243 strikes law, but I'm pretty sure this weenie is out anyway.

[some guy]

9. I don't want him out...

I want him IN... prison, for life.

Granted, the crimes don't have national or global impact like Bushco's, but if 3 strikes is good enough for minor criminals, 243 strikes should be more than enough for crooked pols.

[Lasher]

10. This one hits a little close to home for me.

It was 1970 and I was serving in the US Army in Seoul Korea. I had just turned 21 that year, which was the minimum legal voting age at the time. That was really unfair, being old enough at 18 to be drafted, potentially to kill and die in service of your country, but not old enough to vote. But that's been fixed now.

Anyway, I sent in my application to register and to cast an absentee ballot in the midterm. I got a reply that said I had to get my commanding officer to sign the form. So I rectified that and returned the form. That was the last I heard from my county election board. I wonder how I voted? Grrrr! :grr:

Election fraud needs to be severely punished. Otherwise a potential conviction will not deter mischief and results will not be overturned if it is eventually discovered that an election has been rigged. If you don't believe me, ask Francine Busby.

Let's say a person hacked into an Ohio vote tabulation device in 2004 and modified the totals enough to change the results from a Kerry win to one for Junior. And let's say this person got caught and convicted. And let's also say the penalty is a misdemeanor and the perpetrator has to pay a $5,000 fine and serve a year of probation. Do you know anyone who would have been willing to make this personal sacrifice in order to give The Decider a victory in the 2004 election? Sure you do.

OK, I exaggerated to make my point. I know current penalties are more severe. But change that as you wish and ask yourself the same question: Is there anyone in the USA who would have been willing to spend 5 years (or fill in the blank yourself here) in prison in order to give The Decider a victory in 2004? Of course there is.

[Judi Lynn]

4. More on the mayor and his little crime ring:Former Appalachia mayor pleads guilty to 233 counts

Former Appalachia mayor pleads guilty to 233 counts
Published 11/30/2006 By STEPHEN IGO


WISE - Former Appalachia Mayor Ben Cooper told Wise County Circuit Judge Tammy McElyea "guilty" during a plea hearing on Thursday, then repeated that word 232 more times to an equivalent number of charges involving the 2004 town election scandal.

Cooper also pleaded no contest to an additional 10 charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Charges ranged from preventing or hindering citizens to exercise their right to vote to entering multiple votes and tampering with the absentee ballot process.

Cooper's plea agreement stipulates that testimony presented during the October trial of former Appalachia postal carrier Don Houston Estridge constitutes evidence against the former mayor as well, Special Prosecutor Tim McAfee reminded the judge. Estridge was convicted of three counts primarily involving charges of passing absentee mail ballots to the ring of election fraud conspirators.

Estridge is the only one of the original 14 defendants in the case to stand trial. All others, including Cooper, forged cooperation and plea deals with the prosecution. Seven other defendants also entered pleas before McElyea on Thursday and received suspended jail sentences.

McAfee said evidence presented during the Estridge trial revealed the extent of a conspiracy to commit "multiple acts of a criminal nature primarily relating to the absentee ballot process," including thefts of ballots and forgeries of absentee documents. McAfee said Cooper did not forge documents, but he has portrayed the former mayor as the kingpin of the conspiracy to fix the 2004 town elections and take control of the town.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3704444

[Judi Lynn]

6. Pork rinds aside, fraud isn't funny

Monday, November 13, 2006
Pork rinds aside, fraud isn't funny

Any resemblance between the Three Stooges and Ben Cooper's gang is a dirty shame

~snip~
Imagine the audacity of a police officer -- sworn to uphold the law -- helping himself to a TV and stereo during one of these raids. Who's going to stop him? The mayor?

Imagine a trusted letter carrier so ticked off at town council over some land deal that he acts in collusion with Cooper by stealing folks' absentee ballots so they can be forged and cast to ensure Cooper's victory.

Imagine other residents also so ticked off at the decisions of their town council that they aided Cooper in his illegal scheme to steal the mayor's office so he'd be in position to bestow favors upon them.

Imagine a mayor pleading guilty to 243 felonies in a scheme so blatant that investigators had only to talk to townsfolk who admitted receiving booze for their votes and to sift through an unprecedented number of absentee ballots from nursing home patients and the like. All filled out with the same red pen.
(snip/...)

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/wb/xp-91330

[NotGivingUp]

11. hmm...wonder why it hasn't been covered by msm

[Spirochete]

12. He bribed people with pork rinds?

That's pretty funny. "And I'll even throw in this small can of jalapeno bean dip..."

[jamesinca]

13. I found this on him

Along the Honorable Mayor Ben Ellis Cooper, also indicted were Owen Anderson Sharrett III, Owen Anderson Sharrett Jr., Adam Brody Sherrett, Belinda Carolyn Sherrett, Betty Chloe Sharrett-Bolling, Dennis Martin Sharrett, Kevin Lee Sharrett, Benjamin Grahm Surber, Don Huston Estridge, Betty Roxann Riddle, Krystal Shana Chandler-Turner, Natasha Sherrett-Mullins and Walter Mike Baber.

There are some indications that others may have been involved in some aspects of this conspiracy but only the named above were indicted.

Owen Anderson Sherrett III is on the Appalachia Town Council, and Benjamin Grahm Surber is the head of the Town of Appalachia Police Department, receiving that important appointment after his cronies successfully stole the May 2004 election. Many of the co-conspirators are related to “Andy” Sherret III including his brother, father, mother, great aunt, and a couple of uncles… a real family affair.
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I am finding that he is an independant. One obvious right winger that replied stated he must be a dem, because this is the corrupt type of thing they do, every damn one of them.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Yeah, THEY'VE got a lot of room to talk, don't they?

Nothing can top their slimey pervert Mayor Philip Giordano in Waterbury, Connecticut, who molested two young girls in his office.

The Republican record is so ugly it would take Democrats YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS of witless perversion to catch up.

Yeah, they're really going to advance their cause attempting to point fingers at Democrats!