‘I will not allow political enemies to remove me from office for their own selfish agendas’: Fall River mayor says he’s not resigning
Mayor Jasiel Correia called the allegations against him "100 percent false."
Related Links
A defiant Jasiel Correia held a press conference Tuesday where he said the allegations against him are “100 percent false” and he will not resign as the mayor of Fall River.
“I am going to show you, today, via a presentation, that these allegations made against me — that have nothing to do with my job as the mayor of the city of Fall River and that stem all the way back to when I was 20 years old — are 100 percent false and that I am innocent of every single one of these allegations,” he said, before walking through a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation that detailed his defense.
Correia, a 26-year-old Democrat, was arrested last Thursday in Bridgewater and charged with wire fraud and filing false tax returns. Federal authorities allege that he received over $360,000 from investors to develop an app he founded, SnoOwl, but instead spent about $230,000 on his own lifestyle and political gain. On Friday, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in federal court in Boston.
Correia, who is in his second term as mayor, said Tuesday the investigation into him was “politically motivated by [his] opponents” from the start.
“I will not allow political enemies to remove me from office for their own selfish agenda,” he said.
Near the beginning of his remarks, Correia addressed why he was smiling as he left federal court last week.
“Of course last Thursday was the worst day of my life, certainly,” he said. “It was not a proud moment. And a lot of people saw me come out of the federal courthouse in Boston with a smile on my face, and I’m here to tell you that that wasn’t meant to be perceived as arrogance or pride or excitement, certainly, but I was nervous. It was a long day, and I was nervous, and I didn’t know how to react. I, of course, had not been in that situation. And I was intimidated — a lot of cameras are here today but there were a lot of cameras that day.”
Surrounded by family and supporters, Correia then dove into his presentation. He said the case against him comes down to two things — whether SnoOwl was a “real” app available to consumers and whether he committed tax fraud and then “rushed” to cover it up after learning he was under investigation. He subsequently showed evidence attempting to prove the former and disprove the latter.
Correia didn’t address being served an eviction notice Monday by the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, as reported by The Boston Globe. He also didn’t take questions from the press.
Watch the full press conference:
https://www.facebook.com/wcvb5/videos/265844847401038/
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
