Exercise 17

Stafford man sentenced in federal perjury case

A Stafford County man who brokered a drug deal that went bad—resulting in a shooting last year outside the Spotsylvania Towne Centre—was ordered Friday to serve three months in jail for lying to a federal grand jury.

Ronnie Alexander Morgan Jr., 28, had previously pleaded guilty to making false declarations to the grand jury regarding his role in the Spotsylvania incident. After serving his three months, according to federal authorities, Morgan will be on home electronic confinement for 21 months and on supervised probation for three years. He was also fined $1,000.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Morgan arranged a marijuana deal between two mutual acquaintances, Matthew “Mutt” Johnson of Spotsylvania and Travis Burley of Richmond, a former Stafford resident. He rode with Burley to the mall parking lot on July 11 for the deal that involved four ounces of high-grade marijuana.

According to federal prosecutors, Morgan told a federal grand jury that he was not with Burley that night and didn’t even know who Burley was. He later admitted that he was lying.

Man accused of motel arson

Investigators filed charges against a 34-year-old man who allegedly set fire to a Killeen motel room in May.

Authorities leveled a charge of arson against Benjamin Haskell Copeland. Police arrested Copeland on Friday.

Another man was charged as well, but has not yet been arraigned. Killeen firefighters were called to the High Five Inn in the 600 block of South W.S. Young Drive on May 2 to a report of smoke coming from one of the rooms.

Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke arraigned Copeland and set his bail at $100,000.

Jun. 18, 2013

Michael Applebaum, Montreal's first English-speaking mayor in 100 years, is arrested at his home by a special anti-corruption police squad; arrest occurs as 20-month-old public commission uncovers widespread corruption, linking politicians and organized crime in Montreal's construction industry

Jun. 8, 2013

Michael A Brown, former Washington DC city councilor, is charged with bribery after being accused of accepting cash from federal agents posing as business owners; arrest rekindles attention to long-simmering corruption inquiry of city's government.

Jun. 3, 2013

Three members of Britain's House of Lords either quit or are suspended by their parties after newspaper sting catches them agreeing to lobby Parliament in return for cash; Brian Mackenzie and Jack Cunningham of the Labour Party, along with John Laird of the Ulster Unionist Party, are recorded by reporter who was pretending to represent a solar energy company.