Posted on 09/06/2002 6:08:16 AM PDT by GailA
Davis claims he's innocent, plots campaign 'I hope and believe I have never made a criminal act'
By Tom Humphrey, News-Sentinel Nashville bureau September 6, 2002
NASHVILLE - State Rep. Ronnie Davis said Thursday he will fight criminal charges against him in court while waging a full-scale political campaign for re-election.
"I've made a lot of mistakes and sinful acts in my lifetime, but I hope and believe I have never made a criminal act," said Davis, R-Newport. "I'm going home and will start campaigning Saturday with more determination than I had before Aug. 30."
Davis and Diana Dorothy Burton, described as Davis' "personal companion" in a federal grand jury indictment, were arrested on that date and charged with bank fraud, extortion, money-laundering and violation of passport laws.
One portion of the indictment revolves around an alleged scheme wherein two Texas men paid $100,000 for bogus diplomatic passports and fake "letters of introduction" from prominent officials.
The portion dealing with bank fraud, meanwhile, deals with loans obtained in the same time period that Davis engaged in the process of purchasing a Nashville boutique. The purchase is the focus of an article in a weekly Nashville newspaper, where Burton described herself as a "risk-taker."
Davis met in Nashville on Thursday with Edward Yarbrough, a well-known Nashville defense attorney he has retained, according to telephone interviews with both men. Burton and her attorney, Bill Ramsey of Nashville, did not return a reporter's phone calls.
Davis signed documents to waive arraignment before a U.S. magistrate and to enter a plea of innocence to the charges against him. Burton is still scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 11 in Nashville, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Washko, lead prosecutor in the case. Both are free on $25,000 bond.
Davis said Yarbrough had cautioned him not to discuss any facts of the case, though "I really, really wish I could give the total story."
Saying he spoke generally about his 18-year career as a legislator, Davis added: "I have been representing my (Newport district) in Nashville for several years. I have either helped or tried to help hundreds and hundreds of people in that time. But I have never asked for nor received one dime for anything I've done to help or try to help anyone."
Davis said he had delayed a decision on continuing his campaign until meeting with Yarbrough, who encouraged him to run. He said he has received an outpouring of supportive comments from people in Nashville as well as his home district.
He said "there wouldn't have been any doubt" about his re-election prior to the indictment. Davis is opposed in the Nov. 5 election by Democrat Eddie Yokley, the Greene County tax assessor, and independent candidate Richard Spriggs.
"Who knows what this will do?" he said. "But I'm still the same person who got 90 percent of the vote in (the 2000 election) and who got 6,000 complimentary votes on in the (Aug. 1) primary. I think people will know that."
It is unlikely that a trial will be held until well after the election under relevant federal laws.
"There will be many a dark day, but I fully expect that, sometime in the future, I will be able to look back on those dark days and say that I am a better person, maybe, for those dark days," he said.
An article in the Aug. 29 edition of Nashville Today, a weekly newspaper, depicts Burton as an international traveler who "obtained her dream job" by buying a 10-year-old "upscale boutique" near Nashville's fashionable Green Hills shopping mall. The indictment was handed down Aug. 28 by a federal grand jury and made public on Aug. 30.
Burton purchased the boutique, known as Bliss, "earlier this year," according to the article.
The indictment, meanwhile, says that she and Davis made fraudulent applications for three loans - on Oct. 15, 2001; on Feb. 27, 2002; and on May 21, 2002.
The loans, totaling $245,100, were made by First Tennessee Bank of Murfreesboro. The bank fraud portion of the indictment alleges Burton and Davis falsely claimed they were husband and wife, provided fictitious federal income tax returns and fictitious "1099" tax forms indicating Davis had received payments from the state of Tennessee that he did not receive.
Excerpts from the article on Burton, one of 33 "women entrepreneurs" profiled in a special section of the newspaper that included ads for the businesses own by those profiled:
"During high school, she was a petite model. When she didn't grow taller, she spent the next 30 years in the manufacturing industry. During those years she worked with well-known international companies. ... 'My dream was to work in Nashville, closer to home and have a job where I can dress up and go to work,' says Burton.
"She credits 'great friends' for encouraging her to become a business owner and she relies on her solid faith. ...
"Admitting she's a risk-taker, Burton says it takes a brave individual to go into business during an economic downturn," the article says.
Burton is quoted as saying she was a customer of the business before buying it.
"As owner, she wants to continually provide total customer service with make-up, hosiery, jewelry and clothing that she purchases from Italy, France, New York and Atlanta. She describes Bliss as an upscale couture boutique that isn't too trendy, keeps up with all styles and whose customers are ageless," the article says.
Gary Cunningham, head of GCA Publishing Co., said he had met Burton at a recent reception and found her an "interesting person who had just entered the retail business." GCA Publishing owns Nashville Today and similar Nashville weekly publications.
Cunningham said he and others with the publications "were quite a bit surprised" by the allegations against Burton and by the coincidental timing of the article on her business.
The two men who allegedly paid $100,000 for bogus diplomatic passports, Glen G. Guillett and Robert Littell of the Beaumont, Texas, area, could not be reached for comment. Information obtained by the News-Sentinel indicates that Guillett is a physician and Littell is retired from service in the Air Force.
The indictment says that Burton initiated the "scheme to defraud" the two men, though Davis made calls to the offices of then Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Rep. Bill Jenkins, R-Newport, in efforts to obtain diplomatic passports for them.
Tom Humphrey may be reached at 615-242-7782 or humphrey@edge.net
davis is a RINO pro-income tax supporter.
when did hillary RODHAM change her name to klinton?
politicians....what are we gonna do with them?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.