PHILADELPHIA – To catch a Philadelphia municipal judge they suspected of corruption, FBI agents invented a defendant.
Court documents in Judge Joseph Waters Jr.'s guilty plea last week to federal mail and wire fraud charges say agents staged the arrest of a man with a fake identity as part of the sting.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://bit.ly/1votQwe) an unnamed campaign donor asked Waters to help the bogus defendant. He had been charged with illegally carrying an unloaded pistol during a 2012 traffic stop.
Waters then called a fellow judge who was scheduled to hear the case. According to Waters' plea document, he identified the defendant as a friend and asked for the judge's help.
The Inquirer reports that prosecutors and defense lawyers who worked on the case weren't in on the secret.
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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com
