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Indicted Fall River Mayor Skewered By Local Newspaper

October 19, 2018

Jasiel Correia II, 26, Fall River’s mayor, recently made a series of apparently off-the-cuff statements at a press conference following his indictment on federal fraud charges in connection with a software business he founded.

The Fall River Herald News picks apart his comments in a staff report.

According to an indictment dated October 4, Correia before he was mayor used false claims that he had previously sold a software application for several hundred thousand dollars in order to entice investors to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a new software application he was developing, and then used much of the money for personal expenses without informing investors that he intended to take a salary from the company.

Among the things Correia used the money for, according to prosecutors: a Mercedes, jewelry, designer clothes, travel, adult entertainment, paying down his student loan debt, and funding his political campaign.

Correia has denied the charges, though the Herald News notes that many of his comments at the press conference did not rebut the charges.

Correia has said he won’t resign. Some residents of Fall River have started a campaign to recall Correia as mayor.