Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, a Democrat, was arrested Wednesday on federal public corruption laws after a four-year investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte announced.
Cannon was charged with theft and bribery after an FBI sting operation, said Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
FBI agents, working on a tip that Cannon, 47, was potentially involved in illegal activities, started an investigation in August 2010, Tompkins said in a statement.
Cannon – elected mayor five months ago after a long political career in Charlotte – solicited and accepted cash bribes and other items of value from undercover FBI agents, who were posing as commercial real estate developers and investors who wanted to do business in Charlotte, Tompkins said.
Mark Washburn, Jim Morrill and Mike Gordon
Charlotte Observer