CHARLOTTE, NC — The investigation into ex-Charlotte mayor Patrick Cannon is picking up momentum. The U.S. Attorney’s Office served Mecklenburg County with a subpoena for records related to Cannon. It comes four weeks after the FBI arrested him on corruption charges.
Patrick Cannon hasn’t been seen or heard from publicly since his arrest March 26. We went to the Cannon home in Ballantyne Wednesday, but nobody answered.
WCCB Charlotte talked to Cannon’s attorney, James Ferguson, about the investigation. He still doesn’t know the full scope of the government’s case because the investigation is ongoing, and says that there is no time frame for a grand jury hearing.
The 42-page criminal complaint accuses Cannon of lying to undercover agents, and accepting more than $48,000 in bribes to push through development projects.
Minutes after his arrest, the FBI served search warrants at Cannon’s home, the mayor’s office and at Cannon’s E-Z Park business.
Search warrant receipts show agents found a Glock-20, 10-millimeter pistol, ammo, a plastic bag filled with $7,680 in cash, bank records, tax forms, cell phones and that infamous brown Fossil carrying case: the one alleged to have contained $20,000 from an undercover agent.
Mecklenburg County is now facing the same tedious task of collecting documents relating to Cannon that the city of Charlotte has been dealing with. The city continues to devote manpower and resources to finding any document relating to Cannon from January 1, 2010 to March 26, 2014 to comply with a broad federal subpoena.
Cannon is free on $25,000 dollars bond. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.
Legal experts tell WCCB Charlotte, that if Cannon accepts a plea deal, he could face fewer years behind bars.
The federal grand jury meets again in Charlotte on May 13th. There is no word if the case against Cannon will come up at that time.
