Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney W. WALTER WILKINS stated today that former Union Mayor E. BRUCE MORGAN and Union City Zoning Planner JEFFREY LAWSON pled guilty today in federal court in Spartanburg, to conspiring to extort money under color of law and to soliciting money under color of law, violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951. United States District Judge Henry F. Floyd accepted the pleas and will sentence Morgan and Lawson at a later date.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Morgan, in his official capacity as the Mayor of Union, devised a scheme with Lawson (then the City of Union’s Director of Building and Zoning) to extort money from contractors seeking business with the City of Union. Lawson then solicited bribes from three separate contractors while Morgan solicited payments from a fourth contractor, with the pair agreeing to split the proceeds of their scheme.

The scheme unraveled when one of the contractors contacted the FBI to report the bribe solicitation. The FBI and SLED then launched an undercover operation, and recorded Lawson’s acceptance of several bribe payments. On July 2, 2008, Lawson was approached by FBI and SLED agents and confronted with the evidence against him. Lawson cooperated and named Morgan as his partner. Lawson agreed to work in an undercover capacity, and he made two separate recorded bribe payments to Lawson on July 3, 2008. After the second undercover bribe payment was made to Morgan, agents confronted Morgan and retrieved the monies he had been paid by Lawson on that date.

Both Morgan and Lawson pled guilty to Count One of the indictment which charged conspiracy, and each also pled guilty to one substantive count charging them with solicitation of bribes under color of law.

Mr. Wilkins stated the maximum penalty the men can receive for each count of conviction is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for 20 years.

The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) working together on the Public Corruption Task Force. Mr. Wilkins stated that his office is committed to the investigation and prosecution of officials who violate the public trust by abusing their offices for private gain, and noted that the investigation in this matter is continuing. Assistant United States Attorney Mark Moore of the Columbia office and Leesa Washington of the Greenville office are prosecuting the case.