ST. LOUIS – Former St. Louis City Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed and former alderman Jeffrey Boyd plead guilty Friday in a political corruption scandal that shocked the city. They both had change of plea hearings Friday morning.
Boyd’s started at 10:30 a.m. He plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud in the insurance fraud case involving his car lot, and he plead guilty to bribery and racketeering.
Reed plead guilty to one count of theft/bribery and one count of racketeering/bribery.
Boyd, Reed, and former alderman John Collins-Muhammad all pleaded not guilty back in June when they were accused of a pay-to-play scandal and indicted on federal bribery charges.
Collins-Muhammad changed his plea on Tuesday. The former aldermen of the 21st Ward pleaded guilty to accepting bribes including cash, campaign contributions, an iPhone, and a car to help a small business owner get approval to build a gas station in his ward and receive tax breaks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The indictment states that the unnamed small business owner also sought assistance from Boyd to buy a piece of land and develop a business in his ward. Federal investigators said they have hundreds of recorded phone calls and text messages that incriminate the three former aldermen.
The honest services bribery and wire fraud charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Collins-Muhammad is scheduled to be sentenced on December 6. His attorney is seeking probation but expects the government to want jail time. Reed and Boyd will also be sentenced on December 6.
