August 13, 2021 - 6:24 PM
ADELANTO, Calif. (AP) — The former mayor of Adelanto was arrested Friday for allegedly taking more than $57,000 in bribes and kickbacks to promote marijuana dispensaries and activities in the town northeast of Los Angeles.
Richard Allen Kerr, 64, of Adelanto in San Bernardino County, was arrested by the FBI. He pleaded not guilty in a Riverside court to nine federal charges of bribery and wire fraud and was ordered released on $30,000 bond, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
The indictment contends that while Kerr was mayor of Adelanto from 2014 to 2018, he secretly took bribes while voting for an ordinance authorizing medical marijuana cultivation in the city and others involving marijuana activities.
Kerr “drafted zones for commercial marijuana activities to include locations used by his co-schemers, and he ensured they obtained the licenses and permits they sought," according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.
Kerr isn't the only former Adelanto official charged with corruption.
Then-Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright was arrested in 2017 for allegedly soliciting and accepting a $10,000 bribe from an FBI agent posing as someone who wanted help regarding a marijuana transportation business.
He also was charged with paying another undercover FBI agent $1,500 to set fire to his restaurant to collect insurance money.
Wright has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a much-postponed trial.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021