Ex-Fall River Mayor Sentenced To 6 Years Of Prison

FALL RIVER, MA — A federal judge sentenced former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia to six years in prison for crimes of corruption while serving in City Hall.

Correia, 29, who was convicted back in May, was found guilty of stealing money from investors of his startup while extorting thousands of dollars from marijuana businesses he said he had planned to open but never did.

Correia, a Democrat, was elected into office at just 23. He was set to be sentenced Monday, but a judge instead threw away 8 of the 21 counts prosecutors failed to prove during the trial.

Prosecutors were seeking punishment of up to 11 years in prison, but lawyers for Correia — who maintains he is innocent —pushed for three years.

Correia was arrested in October 2018 and pleaded not guilty to nine counts of wire fraud and four counts of tax fraud.

"The decision to resign or not resign is not solely my decision," Correia wrote at the time. "The answer to this question rests with the people of our City."

Though some of the charges were thrown out, Correia remains convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud, filing false tax returns, extortion conspiracy and extortion.

In March 2019, the residents of Fall River opted to remove Correia in a recall election, but in the same night, due to a lack of replacement and continued placement of his name on the ballot, Correia was recalled but brought back in.

Correia survived the recall election, but one month after the extortion charges were filed, voters threw him out of office.

The young mayor reluctantly stepped down in October 2019 after multiple investors accused him of defrauding them, pocketing nearly $230,000 from his start-up app SnoOwl, and taking bribes from marijuana companies while using the money to uphold his lavish lifestyle — spending most of it on cars and casinos.

Correia has insisted he's innocent since his 2018 arrest, blaming the accusations on his political opponents.

Correia was the youngest mayor elected in Fall River.

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