Atlantic City mayor resigns, pleads guilty to stealing from youth basketball team

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

The mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey was compelled to resign in shame on Friday after admitting to stealing from a charitable youth basketball team he founded, and his party affiliation was made clear by the not-so-subtle reluctance of the media to identify him as a Democrat.

Mayor Frank Gilliam, Jr. submitted his resignation on Friday after admitting in a court hearing Thursday that he had stolen approximately $87,000 from the Atlantic City Starz and used those donated funds to finance his own lavish lifestyle, according to Fox News.

Stolen donations

Gilliam’s theft of the funds for the youth basketball team occurred between 2013 and 2018. He had formed the team while serving as a member of the city council prior to being elected mayor in 2017.

Prosecutors in the case explained that Gilliam solicited donations that were ostensibly for the benefit of the Atlantic City Starz or for purchasing school supplies for underprivileged students in the city. Instead, however, he used the money raised to treat himself to expensive clothing, fine dining, and trips that had nothing to do with the basketball team comprised of underprivileged students.

Gilliam was released from custody on $100,000 bond and will face trial in January. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. FBI agents raided his home in December and reportedly recovered half of the stolen funds, and Gilliam has agreed to pay back the remainder as restitution in addition to a substantial fine.

Resignation submitted

Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate reported that Gilliam stated in a letter, “It is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as the Mayor of the City of Atlantic City, effective immediately.”

“I would like to apologize to the residents of the great City of Atlantic City who deserve stability and respect. My sincere apologies to each constituent that voted for me and had high hopes in my tenure,” the now-former mayor added.

Prior to the submission of his resignation there had already been calls from numerous elected officials — including the state’s governor and attorney general — for him to step down from office. The current president of the Atlantic City council, Marty Small, was sworn in as the mayor in Gilliam’s place on Friday.

Scandal-plagued city

NBC affiliate WCAU reported that U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement, “Mayor Gilliam took advantage of his victims’ desire to assist underprivileged children by falsely representing that the money contributed to the AC Starz Basketball Club would go to pay for school supplies or to support youth basketball … Instead, he spent the money on himself.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory Ehrie said, “When a scheme depletes charity for children, it’s unconscionable.” He added, “But when the fraud is perpetrated by someone the public trusts, it damages the community’s confidence in their public servants.”

The report from WCAU further noted that this wasn’t Gilliam’s first brush with scandal or the law and stated that Gilliam had been accused of voter fraud in the 2017 election, of stealing $10,000 from the Atlantic City Democratic Committee, and of being involved in a brawl outside a casino in 2018.

It was also noted that Gilliam is now the fourth of the city’s past eight mayors dating back to 2007 who have run afoul of the law, a time period in which roughly one-third of the city council members have also been arrested and imprisoned for one reason or another. Good riddance to the corrupt politicians at the helm of that Democrat-controlled city.

1,298 Responses

  1. I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Excellent work!

  2. I seriously love your blog.. Great colors & theme. Did you develop this amazing site yourself? Please reply back as I’m attempting to create my own website and want to know where you got this from or what the theme is named. Kudos!|

  3. Thank you for another great post. Where else could anyone get that kind of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I’m on the look for such information.

  4. With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d certainly appreciate it.

  5. I am really loving the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog readers have complained about my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?

  6. I’m not sure where you are getting your information, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thanks for magnificent information I was looking for this information for my mission.|

  7. This design is steller! You definitely know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  8. Thanks for your own effort on this blog. Kim really loves carrying out investigations and it is obvious why. My partner and i learn all regarding the powerful tactic you offer precious guidelines via your web blog and as well strongly encourage response from some other people about this article then my daughter has been discovering a lot of things. Have fun with the rest of the year. Your doing a splendid job.

  9. I like what you guys are up too. Such clever work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my web site :).

  10. I’m not sure where you are getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for wonderful info I was looking for this info for my mission.|

  11. I’ve been surfing on-line more than three hours lately, yet I by no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s lovely price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the net can be a lot more helpful than ever before.

  12. Hmm it appears like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any points for beginner blog writers? I’d definitely appreciate it.

  13. Thanks for the good writeup. It in truth was once a enjoyment account it. Glance advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we keep up a correspondence?

  14. Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!

  15. It is perfect time to make some plans for the long run and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to counsel you few fascinating things or suggestions. Perhaps you can write next articles regarding this article. I wish to learn even more things about it!

  16. I¡¦ve been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Studying this information So i am happy to express that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I such a lot undoubtedly will make certain to do not forget this website and give it a look on a relentless basis.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular