Senator Ed Worley left himself open to federal mail fraud charges during a Madison county land deal, a source with knowledge of the transaction said yesterday.
Worley currently faces a lawsuit in U.S. District Court over development of 27 acres of prime real estate previously owned by two of his own elderly constituents.
At issue is Worley's use of a dummy corporation he set up, an agreement with the two elderly victims to help develop their property, and a below-market offer from Worley's dummy corporation to purchase the property.
When Worley presented the offer as if it were from a third party -- and then recommended that his constituents accept the offer -- he was at least "pulling a fast one." When he used the U.S. Postal Service to consummate his ruse, he broke the law.
Here is the Herald-Leader coverage of this sorry episode. Expect to hear more about this fairly soon. If federal charges come down, Worley starts to look a lot like a ham sandwich.