Criminal activity,conviction and sentencing
FBI raid and extortion charges
On May 18,2007,six months after Jew took office as supervisor,agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),armed with a federal warrant,raided his office at City Hall,his houses in San Francisco and Burlingame,and his Chinatown flower shop. The FBI sought evidence in Jew's computers and records regarding "potentially criminal allegations" surrounding an extortion attempt. [13]
Jew said that he had been contacted by the owners of a local chain tapioca drink shop,Quickly,to resolve Quickly's business permit issues. Jew demanded $80,000 for his assistance,but agreed to accept $40,000. The shop owners then contacted the FBI,which supplied the cash for a sting operation. The FBI used an undercover agent to meet with Jew and hand over the money. [14]
Jew claimed that he turned over the money to a man named Robert Chan from a land use consulting firm called Bridge Consulting,though this was never substantiated. He also asked that half of the money be donated to the Friends of Sunset Playground,a local organization set up to raise money for the renovation of a playground at 28th Avenue and Lawton Street. The donation was later rejected by the group's fiscal agency,Sunset Youth Services,after the directors,Dawn and Ron Stueckle and Delvin Mack learned the nature of the donation source. [13] [15]
On September 20,2007,federal prosecutors charged Jew with one count of mail fraud in connection with extorting $80,000 from Quickly. [16] Jew denied any wrongdoing. He questioned what influence he could have over the issuing of permits,and reiterated his refusal to resign his position,despite insistence from Mayor Gavin Newsom. [17] On November 7,2007,a federal grand jury added five felony charges,including two counts each of bribery and mail fraud and one count of extortion. He was also accused of accepting $4,000 in cash from the owner of another local business,Wonderful Desserts and Cafe. Jew pleaded not guilty to all charges. [7]
Residency requirements violation
In late May 2007,following the FBI raid,questions surfaced about whether or not Jew actually lived in his San Francisco home,and whether or not Jew therefore met the residency requirements of his supervisor position. [18] The house in question (on 28th Avenue in the Sunset District) was owned by his father,though Jew's neighbors said that the house was vacant and utility bills showed little to no usage of water or electricity. Jew claimed that he spent most of his time at his flower shop,but was not able to provide more information in response to City Attorney Dennis Herrera's formal requests. [19] [20]
On June 12,2007,San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris issued a warrant for Jew's arrest,and charged him with nine felony counts of perjury,election code violations,voter fraud,and providing false documents. [21] Jew turned himself in to the Burlingame Police Department. [22]
On June 18,2007,City Attorney Dennis Herrera sought approval from then California Attorney General Jerry Brown to remove Ed Jew from office. Citing records that showed little use of utilities and interviews with 32 neighbors,Herrera declared that Jew had violated the residency requirements of the City Charter by falsely claiming in his campaign papers that he was a resident of San Francisco. [23] [24] Mayor Gavin Newsom said the case against Jew was "very damning" and raised concern about Jew continuing to cast votes while the legitimacy of his residency was in question. [25]
On July 4,2007,Jew's attorneys issued a 138-page response to Herrera's petition,arguing that even if Jew had not lived full-time in his home in District 4,his election had not violated any laws. They also accused Herrara of political bias in bringing the charges. [26] Herrera denied Jew's accusations,and released signed bank loan documents on which Jew had identified his address in Burlingame. [5] On July 17,2007,Jew pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges,and was granted bail after Jew agreed to surrender his passport. [27]
During the preliminary hearing in late July,prosecutors presented testimonies from Jew's neighbors at both of his homes,indicating that Jew had never lived in his 28th Avenue house and spent most of his time in Burlingame. Testimony from a U.S. Postal Service inspector revealed that Jew's first-class mail went to Burlingame while junk mail went to his San Francisco address;prosecutors cited utility bills showing low usage of water and electricity at his 28th Avenue home,as well as loan applications that indicated he lived in Burlingame. In his defense,Jew produced a jury duty summons to indicate his address in San Francisco,and questioned the possible bias of the witnesses against him. [28] [29]
Suspension and resignation
Edmund Jew | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 (age 64–65) |
| Conviction(s) | Guilty |
| Criminal charge | Bribery Mail fraud Extortion Perjury |
| Penalty | Bribery/extortion:64 months in prison and $10,000 fine Perjury:12 months in jail,3 years in probation and $2,000 fine |
On September 25,2007,Mayor Gavin Newsom suspended Jew for alleged official misconduct and began the process of removing him from office. The city attorney also served Jew with civil charges of misconduct for allegedly lying about where he lived. Deputy budget director Carmen Chu was appointed as Jew's temporary replacement on the Board of Supervisors. [30] On January 10,2008,Jew tendered his resignation in exchange for Herrera and Newsom dropping both the civil lawsuit and misconduct proceeding before the Ethics Commission regarding his residency violation. In a letter,he noted that he resigned due to tremendous legal expenses and swore never to seek public office again in the best interest of his family. Chu became Jew's interim successor until the election in November 2008. [31]
Guilty plea and sentencing
On October 10,2008,Jew changed his plea to guilty on the federal mail fraud and extortion charges. [32] The following month,he also changed his plea to guilty on the perjury charges. [33]
On April 3,2009,Jew was sentenced to 64 months in prison and fined $10,000 on the federal extortion charge. Prosecutors stated that he "preyed upon and victimized the very people whom he had proposed to support in his campaign:small business owners in the Sunset District." [1] On April 22,2009,he was sentenced to one year in county jail,three years of probation,and a $2,000 fine on the state perjury charge. [2] Jew reported to a federal prison in Safford,Arizona on June 30,2009. [34] In June 2012,Jew was held at Taft Correctional Institution in Kern County,California. [35]
After prison
In 2013,Ed Jew was released to a halfway house in San Francisco's Tenderloin area. [36] In late 2014,he took up a low-paying job in a city-funded program targeting illegal garbage dumping in Chinatown,a position he still held in 2016. [37]
