D.A. to announce new charges in political corruption probe

D.A. to announce new charges in political corruption probe
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D.A. Seth Williams will announce new criminal charges Tuesday against three Philly politicians implicated in a controversial corruption sting that Attorney General Kathleen Kane was revealed to have shut down in 2014.

Charges are expected against Democratic state representatives Louise Bishop and Michelle Brownlee, who were reportedly caught on tape accepting cash and gifts from an undercover operative.

A third politician, former state representative Harold James, whose name had not emerged until now in connecdtion with the sting, has also been charged, the Inquirerreported.

Kane was revealed to have dropped the probe despite evidence that at least five Philadelphia Democrats allegdly accepted gifts in return for favors.

The probe, which was launched by former attorney general Tom Corbett, was called “unprosecutable” by Kane, who said it was racially targeted. All the politicians implicated by evidence in the probe were African Americans.

Kane gave the case to D.A. Williams after he publicly criticized Kane’s decision to drop the case.

In that time, three of the original five politicians named in the probe have been charged: former Traffic Court presiding judge Thomasine Tynes, state rep. Ronald G. Waters and state rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown.