Former Conn. Firefighter Avoids Jail in Bribery Case
Source New Haven Register, Conn.
April 03--NEW HAVEN -- A former city firefighter and judicial marshal pleaded guilty and avoided jail time in connection with a bribery scheme inside a New Haven Superior courthouse.
James Blakeslee, 44, pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanor charges and received a one-year suspended jail sentence and two years of probation. He had earlier been rejected for accelerated rehabilitation, a special type of probation that leaves a person without a criminal record.
William Dow, his defense attorney, described the plea agreement as a "favorable outcome" for everyone involved.
"The judge took into account Jimmy's long and honorable history as a firefighter and a lot of the good that he's done over the years," said Dow.
Blakeslee entered his plea on March 20.
He was arrested in July 2011 after an investigation into allegations that he had been approaching people who were contesting traffic tickets and offering to help them resolve them. He'd then take cash, pocket it and forge the initials of a prosecutor in the court file to show the case had been "nolled."
The warrant detailed six instances when a court marshal approached a person in court and offered assistance to take care of tickets for about half the price.
According to the affidavit, Blakeslee forged the initials of an assistant state's attorney or wrote "Nolle" on the file. One man said he paid Blakeslee $150 to take care of a $294 speeding ticket.
Blakeslee resigned from his part-time marshals job in August 2011.
In September, he secured a $52,392 annual disability pension from the New Haven Fire Department, where he served as a lieutenant after about two decades in the service. In 2001 Blakeslee suffered a serious leg fracture when he fell down the basement stairs during a two-alarm fire on Sherman Avenue.
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
