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Former Dumfries Mayor Gets Suspended Sentence
By Greg L | 9 January 2008 | Prince William County | 41 Comments
Former Dumfries Mayor Melvin Bray plead “no contest” to misdemeanor charges of keeping a “bawdy house”, and received a suspended sentence yesterday. Lest anyone out there think that the Commonwealth Attorneys are suddenly uninterested in giving the most lenient treatment possible to convicted criminals, it’s important to point out the important qualifications that must be present for someone to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and get a suspended sentence rather than the original felony charge of running a brothel which carries serious jail time:
- You must be a senior citizen.
- You must have at some point in your life been elected to public office.
For those of us that don’t fall into this narrow set of circumstances, the penalty for this Class 4 Felony is still ten years in prison. Just so you know.
The Washington Post explains why Bray was given such considerate treatment:
Melvin “Mel” Bray, who served as a Marine, a sheriff’s deputy and a Dumfries Town Council member before becoming mayor in 2002, entered his plea to the misdemeanor charge of keeping a bawdy place. Jail time would not seem to serve a purpose in this case, said special prosecutor Thomas M. McKenna, explaining the plea agreement.
“He’s 72 years old and has absolutely no criminal record, and prior to this was an upstanding member of the community,” said McKenna, of the Chesterfield County commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
Still, he added, “there is no question that he in fact was running a house of prostitution.”
Of course this fine upstanding man was telling all of us before he plead guilty that he was going to swear on a stack of bibles that he would never do something like this. That must have been part of that “upstanding citizen” thing which allowed him to get such gracious treatment. Maybe it’s a good idea to bring a box of bibles with you to court if you’re a former elected official seeking to escape the consequences of your criminal actions, just so you can stack them up as needed. Perhaps that’s a third requirement here.
Sheesh.
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Thought you might find this blog of interest, since your blog is mentioned in it:
http://www.loudountimes.com/blogs/life-among-living/2008-01-09/B_Laura_Valle/
Totally off subject. That didn’t look like a blog to me, just someone that is apologetic for ILLEGAL aliens writing an article.
It is time for all to stand up and make sure the invasion is stopped while we can still fight it.
I do not see why past politicians get a free pass. They commit crime they should have to pay the full price. It doesn’t matter what they did in the past, they did something wrong today. Where is the consequences of his actions? What will be the next level of crime?
Greg, If you want to remove my comment and the first one, I would understand. It has no bearing on the subject matter.
One of the questions I had in this case is whether the ladies involved, who seemed to have Korean names, were legal residents of the US. Anyone have any info?
Anonymous said on 9 Jan 2008 at 11:48 am:
Thought you might find this blog of interest, since your blog is mentioned in it:
http://www.loudountimes.com/blogs/life-among-living/2008-01-09/B_Laura_Valle/
———————————————-
hmmmm…obvious agenda…you decide
http://www.loudountimes.com/news/2007/oct/10/briefs-la-voz-flu-shots-fire-ban/
TDB,
Most definitely!!!!! How can someone that resigned from a position that she did be unbiased in their opinion?
Ok, so it seems that the two points aruge that there ARE some people who are above the law of the land. And to think I thought all these years (cough, grin, cough) that NOBODY was above the law. Geeze
Come on John, all politicians feel they are owed something more than they are because they are politicians. If he did something wrong, he should be punished. Just because I have not been to jail in the past would I get a pass like that? Nope. Where are the consequences for his actions?
/\/\3|)iç 64 (Winner of the BVBL 40k post award).
“Where are the consequences for his actions?”
Prolly a hint of shame but doesn’t care as the MONEY has been MADE.
This case was prosecuted by the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, not Ebert.
Oh trust me, /\3|)iç 64 I know all about those type of politicians, having lived here my whole life I got to watch the Democratic (and VERY few Republican) Congressmen bounce checks and not get punished, get busted with male pages (read Barney Frank), and of course, “I never had sex with that woman”. but I think Redawn hit the nail on the head…”it’s all about the money!!!” The ONLY remorse is that he got caught.
All Republicans are good and bound for the pearly gates. All Democrats are demonic. Must be true. Randall Tobias and Larry Craig are just living proof of this fact.
Hello, Mark Foley. He used his position of power to sexually harrass male pages. How soon we forget all the errors, smarminess, and basic hypocrisy of the Republican Party who pretended for years that this wasn’t going on.
A small percentage of politicians believe they are above reproach. This phenomena is bi-partisan, not Democratic.
That business was well known as a house of prostitution for at least the last ten years. The police knew it too. We used to chuckle about it with the cops years ago. Then they have a very public structure fire…and lots of attention. I guess they can’t quietly look the other way anymore, and down goes the ex-mayor.
Does this sound like solid police work or another “old boy” operation sacrificed before it went public?
Snoop Pollywog said on 9 Jan 2008 at 7:16 pm:
This case was prosecuted by the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, not Ebert.
Look back at the records…Ebert turns ALL cases involving politicians, or are politically related in any way, over to his buddy, the Chesterfield County CA…and they ARE good friends. He wants to make sure that the kid gloves are on somebody else’s hands.
Politicians appear to either screw interns or us. Bill Clinton is the former, Dick Cheney is the latter. Personnally, I’ll take the former. I like my money. It’s all about the money to me too.
Don’t forget Congressman Robert Bauman (R-MD).
Exactly reddawn!!! Shame is easy to overcome, but the mind altering prison term wouldn’t be. They know they will get away with it, so why worry about any consequences that may be faced by John Q Public in the same situation.
WOW…
A mayor getting his freak on in a house of prostitution, sounds pretty juicy to me and I cant believe I missed this gem of news. I’m hearing that it’s been going on forever. I’m sure someone decided to make it an example for something..Sometimes I just dont get the authorities in this area.
What I’m waiting for (not holding my breath) is for Bray to spill his guts
and for an investigation to take place to bring to light some of his
“customers”. That, my friends, will be the shocker!
Gone Fishing, That should have been part of the plea bargaining!!!!
BTW, the Chesterfield CA, William Davenport is a Republican. I’m not sure how this fits in with all of BVBL’s resident legal experts.
Perhaps living a decent life for over 70 years does count for something.
No point in making that old adage about 1 awwww sh!t ruining a 100 atta boys come true.
I you don’t know how it fits Snoop, then you don’t know much about the history of Virginia politics.
^If
AWCheney said on 10 Jan 2008 at 12:02 am:
Is that his duck hunting friend?
The stories I could tell about the Town of Dumfries. It’s made for television drama.
Josh,
I have NO idea how you of all people missed that tid-bit of news.
I’m still curious about the Asian “working girls”. What happened to them? Where there here legally. We know the work they were doing was ILLEGAL.
Good Time Charlie,
Oh, I just bet you could tell some stories from the little Town of Dumfries. Your posts always attention getters. I must say. Keep those comments coming.
I’ve heard some good stories coming out of Yorkshire area back in the day. I would imagine they are along some of the same lines.
Medic63, are you saying that part of the “plea bargaining” was that Bray
keep his trap shut about his clients? That would make sense, for sure.
Good Time Charlie,
Give us some low-down!
Lafayette,
Are you saying that Yorkshire (back in the day) had those fun houses?
I’m wondering about a couple of homes in my neighborhood…lots of
traffic, coming and going, various different vehicles,etc.
Gone Fishing,
I’m wonder about a couple of women I always seem to see at the Omnibus stops. They seem to be waiting for the bus all day somedays, on their cell phones, and then ride away in a car not the bus. Yorkshire stories a little different, but still some very questionable behavior, etc.
I doubt golf was on the ole agenda today. Hmm
corr: I’m WONDERING..
Lafayette, that sounds pretty suspicious to me (okay, Dolph…here’s
that latent cynicism of mine creeping in). You are right about the golf
game today. Not a good day for golf OR fishing!
Here’s a very funny email I rec’d today that I want to share with you (and
Josh and especially The Patriot). You’ve probably seen it before, but here
it is again:
Everyone concentrates on the problems we’re having in this country;
illegal immigration, hurricanes, alligators attacking people in Florida….not
me. I concentrate on solutions for the problems. It’s a win-win situation.
1. Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.
2. Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies.
3. Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican borders.
Any other problems you’d like solved today?
This should get some good responses from the apologists, right? Come
on Krusty, bring it!
GoneFishing,
I have not seen that. That is AWESOME. I did get an email of a great video game. I think most of us would get a kick out of it. I know I sure did.
BTW-I have a few problems that could use some fixing, but I don’t think the solutions are that simply and cost effective.
Thank you!
Ah, I needed a good laugh. Thanks gang.
I was going to make a snide comment about which group of people were causing the most action in Yorkshire back in the day…..but I won’t…however…some folks here might recognize the name ‘animal house.’ Oh hush dolph!!! shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Hmmmmm dead silence. Apparently that name is known to many.
dolph, I’m just not that familiar with Yorkshire, but I did see the movie
“Animal House”, which I thought was pretty funny.
In years past, the Dumfries Police Department has reminded me of the movie, ‘Super Troopers.’
GTC,
I’ve not seen “Super Troopers” is anything like Reno 911 on Comedy Central.?I’ll have to see if it’s on Comcast’s On Demand.
‘Super Troopers’ was the inspiration for ‘Reno 911′ It’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Sometimes I think the Dumfries Police Dept. was the inspiration for ‘Super Troopers.’
Thanks, for the informative blog. I knew there must be a special exemtion for old elected officials. Bray was a frequent flier at the Dufries “rub anf tug” maybe that is where he got the idea to open his own operation. It’s Dumfries. Watch, in a few weeks from now when Bray get’s his second wind, we will dicover that he was a victim in all of this! Or maybe he will become the “Dumfries Madam” and release his client list.
As an added bonus he gets to keep all the money he was busted with. Maybe the IRS will want some.