Former Alabama Governor indicted
Former [Alabama] Gov. Don Siegelman and his chief of staff conspired to rig bids and steer a multimillion-dollar contract to care for poor pregnant women to a Siegelman supporter in Tuscaloosa, according to a federal indictment returned Thursday in Birmingham.
A grand jury indicted Siegelman and Paul Hamrick, along with Tuscaloosa physician Phillip Kelley Bobo, on charges of conspiracy, health care fraud and theft from a federally funded program.
Bobo faces additional charges of perjury, making a false statement to the FBI, wire fraud and witness tampering.
Siegelman and Hamrick are accused of having $550,000 moved from the Special Education Trust Fund to the State Fire College in Tuscaloosa so Bobo could attempt to use that money through bogus contracts to offer payoffs to a competitor in the Maternity Care Program bid process. ...
The charges stem from an earlier prosecution against Bobo on charges he conspired to fraudulently secure a contract to provide maternity care, using means similar to those described in the current indictment. Bobo was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 27 months in prison.
A federal appeals court tossed out the conviction, saying the government's indictment lacked specifics on what prosecutors contended was criminal about Bobo's conduct. Bobo's medical license subsequently was restored.
Bobo's lawyers called the new charges "outrageous," and said the indictment "primarily follows the same script and scenario used previously, which the 11th Circuit rejected on appeal."
"Much of the charge contained in the new indictment is due to be thrown out under the principle of double jeopardy," his lawyers said. -- Siegelman indicted (Birmingham News).
See also TIMELINE: Building a case against a governor
Here is the indictement and the prosecutor's press release.
Siegelman and I were friends in college and have remained friends to this day.