Walter Ronnie Sailor, Jr.

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Walter Ronnie "Ron" Sailor, Jr. is a former State Representative in the Georgia General Assembly. Sailor was sworn in on January 8, 2001 and listed his occupation as pastor. Sailor represented parts of DeKalb and Rockdale counties. Sailor resigned on March 18, 2008 after pleading guilty that same day in federal district court to charges of money laundering and attempting to launder what he believed to be $375,000 from the sale of cocaine. Sailor served as pastor of the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church located in southwest Atlanta prior to pleading guilty to the federal charges and prior to the allegations of public corruption as a State Representative and fraud committed against the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church as the pastor. Sailor was fired by the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church on March 31, 2008.

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[edit] Federal Criminal Investigation

According to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias and court proceedings, on Nov. 10, 2007, Sailor met at a metro Atlanta hotel with an undercover law enforcement employee using the name "Jay," who was working with for the FBI. Sailor asked for the meeting, and he had previously sought a drug dealer to provide him with $300,000 in drug proceeds to launder for a fee and believed Jay was a drug dealer from Florida. During the meeting, Sailor said he could launder money and had done so in the past for others, and offered scenarios for laundering the drug money to make it look like it came from a legitimate source. After Sailor and Jay discussed the source of the money, Jay asked Sailor if he was sure he wanted to go forward. Sailor agreed to go forward and negotiated a fee of 10 percent.

In a second meeting about an hour later, Sailor took $25,000 in cash that was said to have come from a cocaine sale.

On Nov. 30, 2007, Sailor met with Jay and gave him a certified check for $22,000. The check concealed the true source of the funds by falsely stating Jay was being paid for contracting work at a church with which Sailor claimed to be associated. No such church existed and the undercover employee had never performed any work.

In a second series of meetings and telephone conversations, Sailor agreed to launder another $50,000 in drug proceeds for a fee of 10 percent. On Dec. 1, 2007, Jay met with Sailor at a metro Atlanta hotel and delivered $50,000 in cash, which was again represented to be drug money. On Dec. 4, 2007, Sailor contacted Jay and said he was prepared to return the laundered funds and asked for an another $300,000 to launder. On Dec. 6, 2007, Sailor flew to Florida, where he met with Jay and gave him two checks, in the amounts of $15,000 and $30,000, drawn on the accounts of separate local Atlanta businesses and signed by a third party. Both checks falsely indicated that they were for a business loan.

Sailor and Jay then arranged a third laundering transaction. On Dec. 19, 2007, Sailor and Jay met in an Atlanta area hotel, where Sailor was given $300,000 in alleged drug proceeds. Shortly after taking the money, Sailor was confronted and detained by FBI agents. After waiving his Miranda rights, Sailor admitted to the agents he had laundered the $25,000 and $50,000 cash that he believed to be drug proceeds and that he planned to launder the additional $300,000 cash he had just received from Jay.

Sailor was charged with one felony count of knowingly conducting and attempting to conduct a financial transaction involving $370,000 represented by a law enforcement officer to be the proceeds of the sale and distribution of a controlled substance, with the intent to conceal and disguise the source of those funds. Sentencing is scheduled for May 22, 2008.

"The willingness demonstrated by Rep. Sailor to become involved in this type of criminal activity is disturbing to say the least," said FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Greg Jones. "This investigation, and its successful outcome, was the result of close coordination among those involved at the FBI and with the U.S. Attorney's Office. Because of the nature of these cases, the FBI will continue to pursue corruption in government wherever the investigation takes us."

[edit] Public Corruption Investigation

Sailor's acceptance of $80,000 from a lobbyist pushing a payday lending bill last year came the day after he promoted the bill in a House committee, according to a review of House records. The state Ethics Commission is investigating Sailor and Willie A. Green, the lobbyist who gave him the money in February 2007. Green's attorney, Morris Wiltshire Jr., has described the transaction as a loan for a real estate venture and not an attempt to influence Sailor. On Feb. 22, 2007, the House Banks and Banking Committee voted 17-11 to recommend passage of a bill legalizing payday lending, with Sailor voting yes. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sailor was one of 11 Democrats who crossed party lines to vote for the bill March 20, 2007 when it came before the full House.

[edit] Allegations of Fraud as Pastor

Days before pleading guilty to money laundering, Sailor secretly took out a $250,000 mortgage on the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church, the southwest Atlanta church where he was pastor. The congregation had no idea what he had done, church leaders indicated. "It's amazing to all of us," said Jimmie Evans, chairman of the board of deacons. "We can't believe it." A church trustee began checking records on March 25, 2008 after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Sailor had accepted at least $80,000 from a lobbyist in a 2007 land transaction, Evans said. The board soon learned Sailor had secretly changed church bylaws to make himself chief executive officer, Evans said. They also discovered that Sailor had borrowed $250,000 using the church's buildings and 2.5-acre property as collateral. The security deed recording the debt was filed on March 12, 2008 in the real estate records of the Fulton County Superior Court. Church officials are not sure of the exact date the deal was closed before being recorded. "The deacons are shocked at the existence of this security deed and we are moving forward with our investigation," stated Brian Lee, an attorney retained by the deacons of the church.

On Monday, March 31, 2008 lawyers for the Greater New Light Missionary Baptist Church said the church fired Sailor as pastor.

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