Prosecutor Questions Hiring Of Convicted Felon
By Nancy Simpson
CREATED Jul. 13, 2012
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) - St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch is denouncing the county's Economic Council for hiring a convicted felon to serve as vice president of real estate and community development.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Economic Council last week hired 60-year-old Dean Burns at an annual salary of $127,816. He was working in the same job in 1999 when he pleaded guilty to charges for illegally transferring $30,000 in Housing and Urban Development rent deposits to his private company.
McCulloch calls the hiring mystifying and says it makes the county look bad.
Denny Coleman, president of the Economic Council, defended the hiring, citing Burns' skills in real estate development at a time when the county is facing an excess of retail space.
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