Fall River City Council Votes To Oust Mayor Jasiel Correia

FALL RIVER — The Fall River City Council voted Tuesday to temporarily remove Jasiel Correia as mayor, following his second federal arrest in the past year.

Eight out of the nine city councilors voted in favor of ousting Correia. The council also passed an emergency order calling on Correia to vacate his office by 5 p.m. on Friday.

The move makes Council President Cliff Ponte, who called for Correia to resign on Monday, acting mayor.

Ponte wrote in an emergency order that ousting Correia was “necessary to protect the health and safety of [the city].”

“For those individuals ... who may be thinking that I'm eyeing or ... wanting his seat … that is not the case,” Ponte said, addressing the room. “If I wanted his seat I would have ran in the recall or would have ran this fall. I'm simply trying to step up for this community and be a leader, as your council president.”

Ponte wrote to Correia on Monday “respectfully asking” him to step down. In another letter sent from Correia’s legal counsel Joseph Macy to Ponte, Macy said “there is no explicit provision in the Charter that the contemplated vote ‘ipso facto’ relieves the Mayor of his duties” — meaning the vote to remove Correia is not, in his opinion, legally binding.

On Friday, Correia, 27, pleaded not guilty to a new set of federal charges, including wire fraud, extortion conspiracy, and bribery after allegedly extorting marijuana companies looking to do business in Fall River — his second arrest in less than a year. Federal prosecutors first arrested Correia in October 2018 for allegedly defrauding investors in his app, SnoOwl.

Federal investigators have accused Correia of demanding $575,000 from marijuana businesses interested in opening up shop in Fall River, stealing more than $231,000 from investors in his app, accepting a “Batman” Rolex watch in exchange for work permits at a construction site, and forcing his chief of staff to pay him half of her $78,000 salary.

Correia has pleaded not guilty on all counts. A call to a member of his staff for comment was not immediately returned.

Correia is running for re-election. A preliminary election is scheduled for Sept. 17, where he will face opponents Erica Scott-Pacheco and Paul Coogan, both of whom he ran against in March.

On Friday, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling described Correia’s alleged actions as “an outrageous, brazen campaign of corruption, which turned his job into a personal ATM.” Lelling said that Correia victimized “not only the specific people noted in the indictment, but the residents of the city that he is supposed to lead.”

Despite this and other indictments, a handful of Fall River residents used the "citizen input" portion of the meeting to support Correia. “We voted for him not once, but twice,” resident Michael Murphy said, addressing the room. “He’s innocent until proven guilty.”

Councilor Steven Camara was the only councilor to vote against ousting Correia.

Camara said he voted against the measure because he believes that the public should be the deciding party.

“It was hard for me to stand alone as a 'no vote,'" he said. “But I am a firm believer in the American tenet, the foundation of our country, that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Correia was elected in 2015, reelected in 2017, and then elected again last year through a recall process by Fall River voters.

Camara told WGBH News he expects Correia will fight the motion in court and try to get an injunction. “This is not going to result in him leaving office,” Camara said. “He’s been ousted until he acts, and I expect that by tomorrow at 9am, he’ll be acting.”

“This is going to be court case on top of court case, so this story is not over,” he added.

Councilor Leo Pelletier, who served two years probation for a felony charge of running an illegal gambling parlor, compared Correia to embattled late Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, who was forced to resign from office twice because of felony convictions.

“This is the worst thing that I've ever seen in my political life,” Pelletier said. “We talk about Buddy Cianci, but he was a priest next this guy, you know?”

Councilor Brad Kilby offered advice to Correia, who was not present at the hearing. “Be a man,” Kilby said. “Step down. Work on your problems. Show some humbleness.”