An Alabama state lawmaker under federal indictment for bribery just got remanded to jail to await trial after FaceTiming with a witness in his case in violation of a court order, reported The Daily Beast on Monday.
"Rep. John Rogers, a Democrat who has spent four decades in the state legislature, denies violating a court order not to contact anyone in his case and said it was 'an erroneous phone call made by someone,'" said the report. "According to AL.com, his spokesman says Rogers accidentally dialed his accountant who has the same last name as the witness."
Rogers is accused of trying to bribe the founder of a gospel music nonprofit to lie to the FBI about an alleged kickback scheme. That founder was the person FaceTimed.
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The state of Alabama has become legendary for its local corruption cases, and a number of current and former lawmakers in both parties have been prosecuted in spectacular incidents.
In 2018, a GOP state lawmaker in Alabama named Jack Williams, along with a California health care executive and the former chair of the state Republican Party, were all arrested as part of an alleged bribery scheme to pass legislation that would force the state's largest insurer to cover treatment at the California executive's facilities.
More recently, last year, former GOP state Rep. Perry Hooper Jr. was arrested on sexual abuse charges against a hostess and later sued the City of Montgomery and its police chief, alleging he was being persecuted for being a Donald Trump supporter.
