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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Mistrial in D-Day Memorial fraud case |
| 2004-10-07 |
| Edited for brevity. A judge Wednesday declared a mistrial for a former director of the National D-Day Memorial who was charged with fraud over his aggressive fund-raising efforts for the monument. The jury deadlocked after two days of deliberations the second hung jury in the government's prosecution of Richard B. Burrow. Jurors told the judge Wednesday that they struggled with the legal definition of fraud and could not decide whether Burrow's fund-raising practices were illegal. Burrow faced eight fraud counts charging him with lying to government officials, banks and his own board of directors in a ploy to obtain loans and state matching funds to pay for the $25 million monument. Prosecutors said Burrow falsified donation sheets and took out huge loans to make it look like the foundation was bringing in more than it was. In all, prosecutors said Burrow illegally collected $7.8 million in loans and state matching grants. He has been under investigation by federal authorities since 2001, when officials at the monument acknowledged they were in massive debt. His first fraud trial ended in December 2002 with a hung jury. The monument of polished granite is dedicated to the Allied forces that invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944. It is located in Bedford, Va., which lost 19 soldiers that day, proportionally one of the largest D-Day losses of any U.S. community. A Google search reveals more history and details here. It sounds like Mr. Burrows was really bending the rules to get matching grants, but at the least he was not embezzling or using funds for personal gain, which I had first feared when I saw the headline. I just hate seeing any taint on a memorial that honors the brave sacrifice so many made. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #2 Smells like Iran/Contra. Cut 'em loose and shake his hand. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-07 4:42:32 PM |
| #1 The story doesn't say it, but I heard in a news report on the radio that most of the hung jury were for acquittal. I hope they drop this now. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-10-07 4:16:33 PM |