Former Gwinnett Commissioner Shirley Fanning Lasseter to report to prison next month

The fact that the feds asked to delay another defendant’s sentencing to follow up on issues related to his cooperation suggest there may be another shoe yet to drop.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter will report to a Florida prison next month to begin serving a 33-month sentence for bribery.

Meanwhile, the sentencing date for a developer who admitted bribing Lasseter may be pushed back as federal prosecutors seek his assistance in an ongoing corruption investigation, court documents filed this week show.

Last May Lasseter admitted she accepted $36,500 from an undercover FBI agent posing as a businessman seeking her vote for a Boggs Road real estate development. She pleaded guilty to a bribery charge, and in September U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell Jr. sentenced her to 33 months. Since then, she’s been living with a friend and waiting to report to federal prison.

All three defendants have cooperated in the federal corruption investigation, secretly recording conversations with unnamed people as part of the FBI investigation.

That cooperation led to a bribery charge against Duluth developer Mark Gary, who admitted last month he paid Lasseter and Fanning $30,000 in casino chips in exchange for Lasseter’s 2009 vote for a $4 million waste-transfer station Gary planned to develop off Winder Highway.

A sentencing hearing for Gary is scheduled Jan. 3. However, on Wednesday prosecutors asked Pannell to delay Gary’s sentencing by at least 60 days “to facilitate matters related to the defendant’s cooperation.”

Prosecutors have said their investigation is continuing but have not said whether it will lead to additional charges.