United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced that James Antuan Blackman and Kim Wright Green have been charged in two separate federal cases with offenses regarding public corruption in local government in Mobile County, Alabama. Blackman and Green face related state charges in Mobile County.
On December 18, 2019, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama returned an 18-count indictment against Blackman, charging him with theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, wire fraud, and money laundering. His arraignment in federal district court in Mobile is scheduled for January 15, 2020. According to the indictment, from around November 2016 to around January 16, 2018 Blackman was the Chief of Staff and Administrative Assistant to the Mayor of Prichard, Alabama. In that position, Blackman was an agent of the City of Prichard, Alabama, a local government that received over $10,000 under a federal program involving federal assistance during each year material to the indictment.
The indictment charges that from around November 2016 to around January 2018, Blackman used his position with the City of Prichard to enrich himself by diverting to his personal benefit approximately $200,000 in money and property belonging to the City of Prichard. According to the indictment, Blackman enriched himself by submitting false invoices to the City of Prichard; by taking and depositing for himself checks payable to the City of Prichard, and checks payable to other entities in the care, custody and control of the City of Prichard; and by using his position with the City of Prichard to divert ownership of real property from the City of Prichard for his personal benefit. The indictment also charges that Blackman laundered money by causing a wire transfer of approximately $39,200.36 to be sent from a bank account that he controlled to a title company to facilitate the purchase of real property.
In December 2019, United States Attorney Moore charged Green in a 3-count information, alleging that she had committed theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and filed a false tax return. Green’s arraignment in federal court in Mobile is scheduled for January 10, 2010. According to the criminal information, from around January 2013 to around February 2017 when Green was the City Clerk of the City of Creola, she allegedly embezzled money from the city, resulting in a financial loss to the city of approximately $241,581.
The criminal information against Green further alleges that from around March 2017 to around November 2019, when Green was the City Clerk of the City of Prichard, she allegedly embezzled money from the City of Prichard as Prichard’s City Clerk, resulting in a financial loss to the city of approximately $158,449. Moreover, the criminal information alleges that Green filed a false tax return that stated that her adjusted gross income was $57,341 for the calendar year 2015, whereas, as Green then and there knew, her actual adjusted gross income allegedly exceeded $57,341 for that year, during which she embezzled more than $56,000 from the City of Creola and knowingly failed to report her criminal proceeds as income on her tax return.
Criminal indictments and informations contain only allegations and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation are investigating the federal cases with assistance from the Investigations Team of the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys George Martin and Sinan Kalayoglu are prosecuting the cases.
