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They were fast friends. John Ford and L.C. McNeil shopped together, vacationed together and shared financial tips and news bits -- even shared girlfriends. "What's mine is yours,'' Ford told his pal when offering him a date with one of his longtime girlfriends. But Ford was duped. McNeil isn't real -- he was a character played by an undercover FBI agent investigating Ford, then a state senator, in a corruption probe. Over parts of two weeks, that agent and Ford have stared at one another -- the agent on the witness stand and the Memphis Democrat in a defendant's chair...

Building an entrapment case while clearly trying to overwhelm jurors with dozens of tapes and transcripts, defense attorney Michael Scholl belabored point after point about mundane conversations in former state Sen. John Ford’s trial this morning. The taped discussions including Ford, FBI undercover agent L.C. McNeil, federal informant Tim Willis and others covered food, movies, nightclubs, hotels, shopping and traffic, among other everyday topics. Advertisement As the recorded conversations were played, few of which related even remotely to the bribery charges against Ford, many jurors took notes. Testifying for the third day today, McNeil became clearly annoyed after having to...

A Shelby County grand jury has indicted former state senator Kathryn Bowers on one count of reckless driving, Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons said Monday. Bowers, 63, was charged with reckless driving, DUI and failure to exercise due caution last summer after her car swerved across three lanes of Interstate 40 and struck a UPS truck. The DUI count was dismissed in February after a toxicology report showed she had no alcohol in her system and no measurable amount of prescription medicines. The charge of failure to exercise due caution also was dropped. The reckless driving offense, a misdemeanor, was...

In cross examination of FBI agent L.C. McNeil, defense attorney Michael Scholl aggressively questioned the lawman this morning about a threat state Sen. John Ford allegedly made. At the time, Ford was growing concerned he was being investigated by federal authorities. During a March 10, 2005, lunch meeting at The Peabody, Ford allegedly told McNeil, who was posing as a corrupt businessman, that he might be in danger. "He continued to talk about what he would do to someone who was trying to set up him up and that he would shoot that person," McNeil said. The alleged threat was...

The prosecution in the John Ford bribery trial today continued to whittle through its cart stacked with dozens of audio and video surveillance tapes showing then State Sen. Ford accepting money for creating a bill that favored a shell company created by the FBI. A video showed Ford helping an undercover special agent who goes by the name L.C. McNeil count out $5,000. During the meeting, Ford takes a phone call from an official with the Memphis Grizzlies who tells the senator there are four tickets to the R. Kelly concert waiting for him at will call. Ford said he...

John Ford agreed to change a state law that would benefit E-Cycle and make the company "extremely valuable," former FBI agent Joe Carroll testified this morning. An audio recording secretly taped by Carroll at a lunch meeting with Ford on March 4, 2005. He tells Ford to disregard an earlier bill he filed for the company and focus on a later bill that included three words "out of state." "The change in the law would be so specific?that it would make our company extremely valuable," Carroll said. "We could sell it to other investors, give away stock?.People could get rich...

John Ford wasn’t expected. In spring 2004, an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt businessman bribed state Rep. Kathryn Bower to arrange a "leadership dinner" with elected officials in Nashville, said FBI agent Brian Burns, the first prosecution witness called this morning on the third day of the former state senator’s bribery trial. The FBI agent, going by the name L.C. McNeil, wanted to meet lawmakers who would be willing to draft and change legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly in exchange for cash payments. The federal government was investigating "systemic corruption" in state government. Acting as executives of...

This is the day former state senator Roscoe Dixon is scheduled to report to federal prison. The Memphis Democrat was convicted in October and sentenced to five years and three months behind bars in the Tennessee Waltz public corruption probe. Dixon was convicted of taking payoffs to push for changes in state law supposedly wanted by a company called E-Cycle Management. The company was a fake, however, created by the FBI as part of its investigation. The investigation has led to indictments against eleven defendants, including five current or former state lawmakers and several local officials in Memphis and Chattanooga....

Dixon sentenced to 63 months in prison By Lawrence Buser October 13, 2006 Former state senator Roscoe Dixon of Memphis was sentenced to five years and three months in prison this afternoon for his bribery conviction in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz public corruption investigation. U.S. Dist. Court Judge Jon McCalla handed down the sentence after a hearing during which the judge said he regretted Dixon seemed to show no remorse. "The court has been listening for words it has not heard — ‘what I did was wrong,’" the judge said. "I’m still waiting for those words." Outside the courtroom later,...

MEMPHIS — A former state senator convicted of bribery says he took payoffs on an installment plan and should face a lighter prison sentence than prosecutors suggest. At issue is whether former Sen. Roscoe Dixon, D-Memphis, took a single bribe or several. Dixon, 57, was scheduled for sentencing Friday on his conviction in the FBI investigation code named Tennessee Waltz. He is the first of five current or former state lawmakers to go to trial on Tennessee Waltz charges. The five bribery and extortion charges on which Dixon was convicted in June carry a statutory maximum of 90 years in...

MEMPHIS — The Republican candidate has withdrawn from the race to fill the state Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Kathryn Bowers. The withdrawal by Michael Floyd leaves Democrat Reginald Tate the only candidate on the Nov. 7 ballot in the heavily Democratic district. Bowers, a Memphis Democrat who is awaiting trial on federal bribery charges, resigned from the Senate on Sept. 1 citing "serious health problems" and also ended a bid for re-election. Since she had won the Democratic primary in August, the party's executive committee for Shelby County was called upon to pick a replacement for the District...

MEMPHIS — Sentencing for a former state senator convicted of taking bribes to push for a change in Tennessee law was delayed until next month during a court hearing Friday. The sentencing of Roscoe Dixon was reset for Oct. 13. His defense attorney said his preparations for the hearing had been interrupted because of a relative's serious illness. "Waiting is hard," Dixon said after the hearing. "Patience is long suffering, and you've just got be patient." Dixon, a Memphis Democrat, was indicted last year along with four sitting lawmakers on charges of taking payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake company...

MEMPHIS — Shelby County Commissioner Michael Hooks Sr. pleaded guilty Monday to a charge from the Tennessee Waltz public corruption investigation. Hooks was accused of taking $24,000 in payoffs from FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking a contract with county government. He pleaded guilty to one count of a two-count federal indictment, admitting that he took a bribe during the sting operation. Hooks is one of 11 people, including five current or former state lawmakers, charged in the investigation code named Tennessee Waltz and built around a fake company called E-Cycle Management that was seeking favors from government. Hooks' plea...

Ophelia Ford and State Sen. Kathryn Bowers were leading in early returns in state senate races where controversy and scandal were key players. Ford is leading fellow Democrat Stephen Haley in her repeat bid for the Dist. 29 seat, from which she was ousted after voter fraud allegations arose. In early voting, Ford has 9,323 and Haley 2,172 votes. The winner will face Republican Terry Roland Nov. 7. Ford, not accused of wrongdoing, had said the controversy would help her regain the seat vacated by her brother, John Ford, who stepped down last year after his indictment in the Tennessee...

MEMPHIS — John Ford’s trial in the Tennessee Waltz public corruption scandal has been postponed from campaign season until next February, his lawyer said Monday. Attorney Michael Scholl said the trial, originally scheduled for Oct. 2, has been reset for Feb. 5. Ford, a former state senator, is charged with extortion, bribery and threatening a government witness and accused of taking $55,000 in bribes. "We needed additional time to go over discovery matter," Scholl said. "We’re still going through tapes provided by the prosecutors." Scholl said the rescheduling had nothing to do with the fact that Ford’s nephew, Harold Ford...

NASHVILLE — Sen. Kathryn Bowers is facing bribery charges in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Tennessee history, but the Memphis Democrat doesn't expect that to keep her from winning her primary on Aug. 3. "I'm very confident that I have the support of the people," Bowers said. "I have a very intelligent constituency that understands that a person is innocent until proven guilty." Bowers, one of five current or former lawmakers indicted in the federal investigation called Tennessee Waltz, is the only one seeking re-election. Two of the former lawmakers have been convicted, and Bowers is awaiting trial....

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Former Memphis city school board member Michael Hooks Jr. became the 11th person indicted in the public corruption investigation known as Tennessee Waltz. His father, Shelby County Commission Chairman Michael Hooks Sr., has already been indicted on charges he took bribes from undercover FBI agents. Hooks Jr., whose great uncle was the civil rights pioneer and NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks, was indicted Tuesday on four counts, including embezzlement, impeding an investigation and lying to FBI agents. The indictment says Hooks and two unindicted co-conspirators fraudulently obtained property worth $5,000 or more from the Shelby County Juvenile...

MEMPHIS - A confessed "bagman" in the Tennessee Waltz sting and aide to a former state senator convicted on extortion and bribery charges was endorsed by several Memphis politicians for vacant legislative seats last year. Backed by Shelby County commissioners, Barry Myers was up for a House seat last May but was indicted days before he could get the position. He also nearly captured an appointment to a state Senate seat. "Your credentials are quite impressive, and I appreciate you bringing your availability to my attention," Commissioner David Lillard wrote a candidate vying with Myers for the House seat. "However,...

Seven people, including five current or former state lawmakers, were busted as part of an FBI/TBI public corruption sting. The two-year undercover investigation was named “Operation Tennessee Waltz.” Capitol Hill Corruption: Roscoe Dixon Convicted Posted: 6/8/2006 2:01:00 PM Updated: 6/8/2006 2:34:44 PM A federal jury in Memphis convicted former state Senator Roscoe Dixon Thursday afternoon of extortion for taking payoffs in the Tennessee Waltz corruption investigation. The Democratic former legislator had been charged with seeking and accepting payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake FBI company that offered bribes to state and local officials across Tennessee. He was charged with taking...

MEMPHIS — A federal jury started deliberating Wednesday to decide whether a former Tennessee senator was guilty of bribery and extortion in a public corruption case. Memphis Democrat Roscoe Dixon is the first state lawmaker to go to trial in the Tennessee Waltz case. He’s among five current or former state lawmakers charged with taking payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake FBI company that offered bribes to state and local officials across Tennessee. Dixon is charged with taking $9,500 in bribes to push for a change in state law E-Cycle supposedly wanted to gain a business advantage. Testifying in his...