Greasing Palms Down in Dixie

This story is especially for my local readers, but the rest of you should enjoy it as well. In what appears to be the plot of a Dukes of Hazard episode, three former Dixie County (North Florida) public officials were convicted August 6, 2009 of conspiracy, soliciting bribes, and lying to FBI agents about money they were given. The FBI had received numerous tips regarding corruption in Dixie county over the past few decades but had not succeeded in busting the criminals, until now.

This story is especially for my local readers, but the rest of you should enjoy it as well. In what appears to be the plot of a Dukes of Hazard episode, three former Dixie County (North Florida) public officials were convicted August 6, 2009 of conspiracy, soliciting bribes, and lying to FBI agents about money they were given. The FBI had received numerous tips regarding corruption in Dixie county over the past few decades but had not succeeded in busting the criminals, until now.

The culprits were two former Dixie County commissions, John Lee "Big John" Driggers (like I said, straight out of the Dukes of Hazard) and Alton James Land, along with a former building inspector, Willie Dewey "Billy" Keen Jr. The three used their positions to solicit bribes in exchange for preferential treatment in land development deals. The FBI used undercover agents to catch the men in the act. The men first claimed that the money they took was for campaign contributions, but there was no record of the money in their campaign contributions ledger. They also argued entrapment, but were unsuccessful in persuading the jury (then again, entrapment is one of the most difficult defenses to convince a jury of).

Lloyd Vipperman of Gainesville defended Land, Clifford Davis of Monticello defended Driggers, and federal Public Defender Randy Murrell defnded Keen. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg McMahon prosecuted the men.

Source: Gainesville Sun