Around New England

Indicted Fall River Mayor May Be Facing Recall Election

November 14, 2018

Fall River residents who want to oust indicted Mayor Jasiel Correia II say they have more than enough signatures to force a recall election, and they are gathering more.

The city charter requires certified signatures from 5 percent of the South Coast city’s registered voters to accomplish a recall election.

Correia, 26, was indicted October 4 on federal charges. Federal prosecutors say that before he was mayor he misled investors in a software company that he founded about his past experience and then spent much of the money they gave him on personal luxuries.

Correia has denied the charges and refused to resign.

If a recall election occurs, it will be Fall River’s second in about four years. In December 2014 then-mayor William Flanagan lost a recall election to then-Bristol County district attorney Sam Sutter.

Sutter served two years as mayor. In November 2016 he lost his bid for a full four-year term to Correia, the current mayor.