United States of America, Appellee/cross-Appellant v. Alfred J. Rioux, Appellant/cross-Appellee

McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge:

In 1986, the people of Hartford County, Connecticut elected Alfred J. Rioux High Sheriff. Rioux was subsequently accused of extorting funds from the Special Deputy Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs whom he appointed in the following years. After a four-week trial in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Ellen Bree Burns, Judge), a jury convicted Rioux of a fraudulent scheme to commit extortion, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (mail fraud), and a violation of the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952, arising from the same fraudulent scheme.

At…