Federal prosecutors published an indictment Tuesday charging Evansville Redevelopment Commission member Jay Carter with laundering drug money for local marijuana dealers.
Joseph Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana said that Carter’s indictment stemmed from an investigation into Carter and is a part of his office’s campaign to combat public corruption.
Federal prosecutors allege that Carter agreed to assist the men in their efforts to launder drug money by facilitating real estate, business, and financial transactions. At least one case Carter allegedly testified before the Evansville Public Safety Committee in support of the awarding of a city contract that provided benefit to drug dealers.
Carter was appointed to the ERC in January 2011 by the Evansville City Council during the last year of the Weinzapfel Administration. He is a member of the Memorial Community Development Corporation, a non-profit inner city development arm of Memorial Baptist Church that is under the pastorship of the Reverend Adrian Brooks.
The Evansville Redevelopment Commission, a five-member board with appointees by both the mayor’s office and City Council has been at the center of controversies such as the continuing saga of the choice of a developer for a downtown convention hotel, the McCurdy parking lot debacle, and other local high dollar public works projects like the Ford Center. The ERC deals with planning and construction within the city’s redevelopment area including Downtown Evansville and the Front Door Pride area.
There are no formal requirements for knowledge of either construction or finance required for being appointed to the ERC.
This is a developing story
Abolish the commission.
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ERC and a few others need to be ran out of town
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