MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities in Minnesota have confiscated cellphones and taken all seven defendants into custody as investigators try to determine who attempted to bribe a juror with a bag of cash containing $120,000 to get her to acquit them on charges of stealing more than $40 million from a program meant to feed children during the pandemic. The case went to the jury late Monday afternoon, after the 23-year-old juror, who promptly reported the attempted bribe to police, was dismissed and replaced with an alternate. She told court officials that a woman had dropped the bag at her home and offered her more money if she would vote to acquit.
She said a woman left it with her father-in-law Sunday with the message that she would get another bag of cash if she voted to acquit, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune . A second juror was dismissed Tuesday morning, KSTP-TV and KARE-TV reported. According to U.
S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, the juror called her family Monday night to let them know the jury was being sequestered and the family member responded, “Is it because of the bribe?” The juror then reported that conversation to the court, which told her to not talk to any other jurors about what she had heard. She was also replaced with an alternate.
“This is completely beyond the pale,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in court on Monday.
“This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies.” Defense attorney Andr.
