Ala. County Commissioner Indicted
A five-count federal indictment was handed down by a Birmingham Grand Jury charging Cherokee County Commissioner Leonard Woodall with accepting bribes and making false statements.
Woodall is also accused of lying to FBI agents about bribes from Tillery in a county landfill deal. In June, the revelation of the landfill deal prompted Philip Jordan, Cherokee County Commission president to resign from the commission and as probate judge prior to pleading guilty to accepting bribes.
Woodall is accused of taking bribes in 2003 and 2004 from Michael Tillery. Tillery and James L. Williams recently pleaded guilty to giving money to Cherokee County elected officials in exchange for the county’s casualty insurance business.
Prosecutors said the scheme cost county residents more than $100,000 in excessive premiums compared with coverage that could have been gained through the Association of County Commissions. They said Williams paid $16,500 in bribes to Jordan, who awaits sentencing in January for accepting $65,000 in exchange for influencing a landfill deal in Cherokee County.