Posted on 04/26/22
| News Source: i24
'Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation'
US President Joe Biden announced the first three pardons of his term on Tuesday, granting clemency to an ex-Secret Service agent who was imprisoned on bribery charges and two others who were convicted of drug-related offenses.
“Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities,” the president said, according to a White House press statement.
The three people who received clemency were identified as Abraham Bolden Sr., Betty Jo Bogans, and Dexter Jackson.
Bolden, the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on the Presidential Protective Division, was convicted in 1964 of federal bribery over allegations that he attempted to sell a Secret Service file.
The former agent’s first trial concluded with a hung jury, and in the second trial - where Bolden was convicted - a number of key witnesses who testified against him later confessed to lying at the prosecutor’s request.
However, Bolden - who said he was targeted for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the Secret Service - was denied a new trial and served several years in federal custody.