December 16, 2004
MIAMI -- A suspended city commissioner was arrested Wednesday on charges of taking cash kickbacks from two construction companies totaling $135,000.
Arthur Teele Jr., 58, was taken into custody after surrendering to police. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
Teele was charged with 10 counts of accepting unlawful compensation from two construction companies from May 1999 to October 2003 when he was the head of the city of Miami's Community Redevelopment Agency.
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Teele was elected city commissioner in 1997 and suspended in September, a month after he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and threatening a public official. Detectives allegedly pulled him over and he reacted "in an apparent rage."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-miami-corruption,0,2289647.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlinesBet you can't guess what party this criminal belongs to. Republican, of course. He was also a former Reagan Appointee. BTW, this is his second arrest in the last few months. Maybe Bush will nominate him for a Cabinet position or better yet a Metal of Freedom?