Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia II, who was indicted last year on federal fraud charges, will face new federal charges Friday related to an alleged extortion scheme, federal prosecutors said.
The office of U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a Friday morning tweet that the mayor of Fall River and four others who were not identified had been arrested "for allegedly extorting marijuana vendors for cash."
Authorities plan an 11 a.m. press conference to discuss the arrests.
Correia already faces multiple charges of wire fraud and filing false tax returns for allegedly using more than $230,000 invested in his tech company, SnoOwl, on a range of personal expenses including purchase of a Mercedes, jewelry and dating services.
The mayor denied the charges, and residents forced a recall election earlier this year.
However, Correia remained in office. On the two-question recall ballot, more than 60 percent of voters were in favor of removing the mayor, but in the second prompt, Correia's opponents split votes among the four candidates seeking to replace him and he secured a plurality of roughly 35 percent of the votes to stay in office.
The mayor's office declined to comment when reached by phone Friday morning.
In Fall River, Northeast Alternatives is the one company that's gotten the go-ahead from the Cannabis Control Commission to open for business. Northeast Alternatives, which operates other stores in Massachusetts, grows up to 5,000 square feet of marijuana, makes marijuana products and sells to consumers at a facility right near the Rhode Island border.
The CCC authorized the Fall River location to open to non-medical customers in January. Three other companies — Greener Leaf, Hope Heal Health, and Nature's Medicines — have provisional licenses from the CCC but have not opened for recreational business. A fifth company, The Haven Center, has submitted a retail application to the CCC.
