That has to be the most Onion-like title I have ever created but in this case it perfectly encapsulates the allegations (pdf) against State Senator LeLand Yee of San Francisco, California. Yee is quite accomplished. In 2004 he became the first Asian American to ever be named Speaker pro Tempore which made him the second highest ranking Democrat in the California State Assembly. He’s also a leading gun control advocate for the Democratic Party in the state of California. In 2012 he introduced Senate Bill 249 which would have banned conversion kits for so called assault rifles like the AR-15 which allows gun users to reload their weapons more quickly although no faster than in any other state in the country. This is what Yee had to say about the Bill which was written in the shadow of several mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Milwaukee:
“While most gun owners are law-abiding, it is a fact that
such weapons are more likely to be used to kill an innocent person than used in self-defense,” Yee said in a press release. “One only needs to look at England, Japan, and other nations with strict gun access to see that these types of gun control laws are effective in preventing gun-related homicides.”
Yee was also a big advocate of making illegal the sale of violent video game sales to children which he succeeded in doing in 2005. The law was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2011, having been ruled unconstitutional. He has a Ph.D. in Child Psychology.
Mr. Yee was very much been a typical California Democrat in a lot of ways, pro-gun control, anti-violence, pretty boilerplate stuff.
However, it appears that a sting by the FBI has revealed that Yee wasn’t so boilerplate after all. He was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the following offenses.
Taking bribes from a company called Well Tech. I have no idea what they do. Healthcare services, most likely.
Taking bribes from Chee Kung Tong, a Chinese fraternal organization. They’re like the Chinese Freemasons, kind of.
Taking bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as pro Medical Marijuana advocates.
Conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms form the Philippines by setting up international weapons trafficking deal with undercover FBI agents.
What was he trying to traffic into the U.S.? Automatic weapons and Missiles from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines.
Yee is also accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and cash payments to provide introductions, help a client get a contract and influence legislation. He or members of his campaign staff accepted at least $42,800 in cash or campaign contributions from undercover FBI agents in exchange for carrying out the agents’ specific requests, the court documents allege.
Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons worth $500,000 to $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles, and took him through the entire process of acquiring them from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the United States, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel V. Pascua.
