Congressional Aide Makes Wrong Menu Choice (LA Times)
A congressional aide was dining at a Compton restaurant in March 2017 when his lunch companion handed him a menu. The aide took a quick glance around the restaurant, opened the menu and removed $5,000 in cash, which he put in his pocket.
The aide, Michael Kimbrew, 44, though he was with one of the owners of a marijuana dispensary who he had been set up for extortion since 2015. However, it was not the dispensary owner who had been set up, it was Kimbrew and the lunch companion was not a dispensary owner, he was an FBI agent.
After a three-day trial, a federal jury found Kimbrew guilty of two felony counts of bribery and attempted extortion. According to prosecuting attorneys, Kimbrew could receive 18 years in prison when he is sentenced, which is expected to be on June 4.
Kimbrew was working as a congressional aide for Then-Rep. Janice Hahn when he first contacted the marijuana dispensary in March 2015. Hahn let Kimbrew go in early 2016, but Kimbrew continued to tell the dispensary owners that he was working with the FBI to make sure local dispensaries were filing the required permit applications.
Kimbrew told the dispensary owners that he had the power to keep them in business in Compton provided they could reach “an agreement” and that he also had to power to close the shop down if no agreement was made.
