Posted on 01/03/2006 5:28:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DETROIT (AP) - A former aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers has been arrested in Africa after skipping his sentencing on a federal fraud conviction, federal authorities said.
DeWayne Boyd, 49, formerly of Detroit, was arrested Friday in Accra, Ghana, said Daniel D. Roberts, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office. Boyd is a former aide to Willie Brown when he was the speaker of the California Assembly.
Boyd was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear at the April sentencing hearing on convictions of mail fraud, making false declarations under oath, making false statements to investigators, bankruptcy fraud and theft of government property.
The government said Boyd stole about $162,000 from four vendors and sponsors of a 1999 conference in New Orleans for black farmers. One sponsor was the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which gave $50,000 for the conference.
Boyd was convicted on Dec. 15, 2004. He was expected to be sentenced to 30 to 46 months in prison.
When Boyd failed to appear at his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland in Detroit issued the arrest warrant and canceled his $15,000 personal bond.
He was arrested by FBI agents and Accra police and escorted back to the United States, where he was being held by the U.S. Marshal Service, the FBI said. He appeared in U.S. District Court in New York on Tuesday and will be returned to Michigan for sentencing.
Boyd's attorney, Martin E. Crandall, said he had not talked to his client and had no immediate comment.
Boyd created and was president of the National Organization of Black Farmers in 1997, when he was an aide to Brown, according to court documents. He was the only signer on its bank account, and the now-defunct organization essentially existed to put on annual conferences, he said in court papers.
Boyd was fired from the office of Conyers, D-Mich., in 2002.
Martin, excuse me for sending you that last post. Some Freeper responded to a comment of mine from back in 2006, and like a dummy, I thought it was a new thread. When I leafed through and saw the photo of Boyd Dewayne, I sent you my comment. Pardon the error.
Yeah, barroom brawl, which is what she was arrested for back in January of 2006 when my comment on this thread was originally posted. A little behind the times?
Eez no prollem, ‘esse.
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