Indicted politicians, investigated church: Down in Alabama
Another kickback indictment
The latest Alabama public official to face indictment is an 82-year-old who was first elected to the State House in 1982.
AL.com’s Hannah Denham and Joseph D. Bryant report that John Rogers, a Birmingham Democrat, is facing federal corruption charges in the same alleged kickback scheme that took down former state Rep. Fred Plump.
Plump, who’s also a Birmingham Democrat, pled guilty to his charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obstruction of justice and resigned his seat in the Legislature.
The indictment against Rogers alleges that he put $400,000 of state money allocated for service organizations into Plump’s youth baseball league and that Plump turned around and gave half of that to Rogers’ assistant, who is also under indictment.
Rogers has maintained that he’s innocent.
If you have your scorecard with you, that should make three recently indicted legislators. Last month, Rep. David Cole, a Huntsville Republican, resigned and agreed to plead guilty after he voted and ran for office in a district in which he didn’t live.
Mysterious church finances
The State of Alabama is investigating a church in Warrior that has bought up $6 million of property in the small town as well as a $2 million home in Trafford, reports AL.com’s Hannah Denham and Sarah Whites-Koditschek.
The church leaders are a wife-and-husband team, both named Robin Bullock. The wife, Robin R. Bullock, is the pastor, and the husband, Robin D. Bullock, plays guitar and calls himself a prophet.
Their organization is called Church International and really blew up on social media as the prophet husband predicted “spiritual warfare” before the Jan. 6, 2021 violence at the U.S. Capitol.
The couple have a history of financial struggles, and the state is suing to see financial records.
What’s real at this point?
It didn’t take long for somebody to make a movie that seems to mirror much of the Carlee Russell story.
AL.com’s Ben Flanagan reports that the movie is now available for rent or sale on Prime Video.
You might remember Carlee Russell from this summer as the nursing student who saw the baby on the highway. For your convenience, this movie is titled, “The Nurse That Saw the Baby on the Highway.”
Some names have been changed here, but the IMDB description begins, “Based on some true events, Nursing student Marlee Wilson is having problems with her boyfriend and his addiction to strippers,” leading us to presume that any real-life boyfriend was probably left out of the consultation process.
At least we have the burgers
Five Guys Burgers and Fries is the last business standing at Brookwood Village, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.
Incidentally, the original Brookwood Mall opened 49 years ago where Mountain Brook meets Homewood. Of course, the mall has been closed and businesses in the shopping-center area have closed up one by one. The most recent to give it up is restaurant and bar Hickory Tavern.
Quoting
“Just the other day in Alabama a gentleman told me, ‘If you will come back here with me in this neighborhood right behind you, you will see migrants who are here illegally, and they will tell you about the drug cartels coming around every other week to collect.’
“Guys, that’s not the American Dream. That’s an American nightmare.”
By the Numbers
12: That’s how many Grandview Medical Center Labor and Delivery Nurses are currently — what else? — pregnant, according to a Facebook post by the Birmingham hospital.
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