Wednesday, June 10, 2009

It's hard being a "Roland" in Chicago


“Roland Harper may have been a great football player but he is a terrible businessman”
~ Defense attorney Patrick J. Cotter

Former (and I really mean former – 56 years old) Chicago Bear Roland Harper was sentenced to a year of house (plus 2 years probation) arrest for being involved in a 1.5 million dollar scam. His lawyer must not have studied “Johnnie Cochran’s old cases. While under house arrest, he has to complete 200 hours of community service and pay thousands of dollars in restitution. Roland Harper arrived here because he was pimped out by Landscaper Aiden Monahan. Monahan used Harper as a front man so he could obtain minority landscaping contracts. Chicago set aside these contracts specifically for minority firms. By now you can guess what color Aiden Monahan is. So not only did Monahan game the system, he took money out of black/brown/yellow pockets. Harper’s attorney claims that Harper went into business with Monahan with good intentions. That’s what the road to Hell is paved with. I’m glad I wasn’t in the courtroom when U.S. District Court Judge John W. Darrah said this gem when ruling on this case: “This city is fraught with corruption.” I would have busted out laughing!! Harper should have told him…”Really, this city?”

2 comments:

Max Reddick said...

How much time did the white guy get? I am trying to be empathetic, but a guy that old should really know to watch his back when dealing with others. It appears who was just too trusting. Or maybe too greedy. Who knows?

But that judge sounds like he suddenly had an epiphany of some kind. Did he not realize what an understatement that was?

Citizen Ojo said...

Max - The white guy got 3 years and maybe probation.