Former Moss Point alderman’s sentencing postponed
Published 7:17 pm Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Sentencing for former Moss Point Alderman Alfred “Al” Bodden has been rescheduled for March 15 in federal court in Gulfport.
Bodden had been scheduled to appear Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola, but sentencing was postponed until the later date.
Bodden initially was indicted in August on six counts each of aggravated identity theft and bank fraud and one count of witness tampering. The charges stem from Bodden’s dealings with his now defunct car dealership, Al Bodden’s Supercenter in Moss Point.
Bodden initially pleaded innocent to the charges but changed his plea in December. He pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in exchange for an agreement with the government to drop the remaining 12 charges.
Bodden could face up to 30 years in prison and be fined $1 million for the one count of bank fraud.
Bodden was elected to the board of aldermen in 2005. He resigned in December. State law bars a convicted felon from holding public office.
In the indictment, Bodden was accused of using other people’s identification to obtain fraudulent loans of $127,903 over a four-month period from AmSouth Bank in Jackson and Navigator Federal Credit Union in Pascagoula.
Prosecutors said Bodden stole the names, addresses and driver’s license numbers of the victims, who noticed their identities had been stolen only after submitting a loan application for a car and not receiving it or after they were unable to obtain titles for their cars.