Ex-NYC top cop to start federal prison term (Bernie Kerik)

[sabra]

Source: WP/AP

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was due to report to federal prison Monday, but he was still claiming he had been wronged.

Kerik, who pleaded guilty in November to tax fraud, lying to the White House and other counts, was to start a four-year prison term, but the Bureau of Prisons said it would not identify the prison until after he reports.

In a statement dated Sunday on his website, the former 9/11 hero said he could not remain silent "in the face of what I believe has been a grave injustice." He said he pleaded guilty to eight felonies in November because he was "financially helpless" and could have spent a year behind bars just awaiting trial.

Kerik's steely resolve as he stood with his mentor, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, won him worldwide fame after the 2001 terror attacks. His career peaked three years later when he was nominated by President George W. Bush to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/17/AR2010051701467.html

[Botany]

1. thanks for the memories

Director of homeland security

[47of74]

2. And this was the guy Bush thought would make a good DHS head?

[ejpoeta]

5. considering the crimes he and his brethren commited during their eight years

he would have fit right in.

[Soylent Brice]

3. K&R

[Oceansaway]

4. K&R...n/t

[ret5hd]

6. Don't you have to admit guilt and show remorse to get paroled?

I wonder how long before his parole hearing he will "find jeebus"?

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Let me see if I got this straight -

He was concerned about spending a year in jail awaiting trial (he has NO resources for bail?) and that is why, despite his innocence, he pleaded guilty and got a 4 years sentence.

An innocent man who did not want to spend a year in jail traded that for a guilty plea and 4 years in prison.

Either he is lying about his being 'wronged', or he really knows nothing about how to bargain.

BTW, what made him a "9/11 hero"? It's not like he actually DID anything. He was just there. He didn't guide people out of the towers. He made speeches.

Fuck him.

[Scurrilous]

8. K & R

:thumbsup:

[boycottfaux]

9. Caroline NJ Real Housewife Must Be Sooo Sad

I saw Bernie Kerik [with either his wife or one of his two
mistresses] with Caroline and her husband on the first season
of Real Housewives of New Jersey . .

Even though poor Caroline said she would never associate
herself with a criminal.  Well, Caroline, your buddy is now a
criminal felon!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. Financially helpless?

What happened to all that TASER money, Bernie?

Or all that money you pilfered from the prison slush fund? (Oh yeah, the feds frown on paying fines and attorney fees in small un-marked bills).

[bemildred]

11. From Police Chief to Prison: Kerik Starts Sentence

Source: NYT

In the coming days, Bernard B. Kerik will begin work as a groundskeeper, or maybe a housing orderly, at a starting salary of 12 cents an hour. His blog, where he defended his blemished record and discussed finding strength in Rocky movies, will go dark. His exercise regimen, which helped shape his fireplug physique, will be limited to the hours between dinner and bedtime.

Mr. Kerik, the former police commissioner of New York, surrendered at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institutional in Cumberland, Md., at 1:45 p.m. on Monday, said Felicia Ponce, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons.

Now officially registered as Inmate 84888-054, Mr. Kerik will serve his four-year prison term in the facility’s minimum-security wing, which houses more than 450 other inmates, Ms. Ponce said. He pleaded guilty last year to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.

Mr. Kerik’s days will most likely look much like those of most federal inmates, she said. He will rise around 6 a.m. and eat breakfast at 6:30. After a medical and psychological evaluation, he will begin work at a job prison officials will assign him — salaries start at 12 cents an hour and rise to 40 cents. The money will be deposited in his commissary account to be spent on snacks, stamps or personal hygiene items.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18kerik.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Every once in awhile, justice really IS served.

Enjoy your stay at Club Fed, Bernie.

[metapunditedgy]

13. Nice to see a "white-collar" criminal getting a bit more than a slap on the wrist, for once. n/t

[underpants]

14. and you want to be my Homeland Security Director

[alp227]

15. Well, at least one of the Bushgang is behind bars.

But the two henchmen themselves are still living in paradise...for now.

And Kerik's charges are hardly even related to the fraudulent Iraq War.

Don't even try to do research on all the other corruption in the Bush Administration.

[laststeamtrain]

16. I wish Bo Dietl was going with him.