Now that a plea deal has been reached in the Sideras case, it’s time for me to share how this case has affected me over the past couple of weeks. When I found out that Jim’s attorney was using the excuse that comments Patrick Warren made in the Argus Leader and on my BLOG proves he has a vendetta against his client, I was shocked, baffled and quite honestly LIVID! It seemed to me that some of evidence the prosecutors have already presented pointed all fingers at Sideras. Simply put, even if Warren would have somehow got access to Jim’s personal computer remotely, how on earth could he do it when Sideras was in San Antonio?! The defense was grasping at straws, and as they proved today in the plea agreement, Jim was ultimately the guilty party.

Besides speculating on Jim’s probable light sentence (I will be surprised he gets any jail time) the plea agreement is kind of telling. Notice Jim only plead guilty to possession of an image on his personal laptop. This is significant. Why?

From KDLT;

The Human Resource Director for the City of Sioux Falls says regardless of his plea, Sideras is still entitled to his pension, after serving 34 years with fire rescue.

This statement alone may explain why this was the only count he agreed to plea to. Besides the fact many city employees and citizens are extremely angry he gets to keep his pension, by state law he is entitled to it. I felt after the verdict came down the city should just cut him one check for his vested pension and send him on his way without taxpayer pension funds or healthcare.

Could they legally do that? Is there a loophole? I believe there is. See if this would have went to full trial and he was found guilty of some of the other possessions, some of those occurred while he was on company time, and it could give the city the right to file charges of misuse of government property or capital, even fraud. If they could successfully tie Jim to those charges they probably would have the right to pull his pension. Besides the fact he got one heckuva a plea deal, the greater misdeeds in misusing taxpayer property was the real crime here. Unfortunately we will never know. That may explain why we have gotten NO official statement from the city on this case.

9 Thoughts on “Sandy likes a plea deal

  1. If you start removing ones pension due to a criminal act, then you are walking into unchartered waters.

    A pension is a product of a lifetime of work, while a criminal act is a given event.

    Instead of trying to take away peoples’ pensions, the real question should be why more entities, private and public, do not still offer a decent pension program for their employees?

    Fore, it has been replaced with 401Ks, which most employees do not understand and many do not participate in, or adequately at least.

    Prior to a 1980 Supreme Court decision, 401Ks were left as an instrument merely for the corporate board members, but this decision over time has enriched corporate America by undoing its civic duty of a pension program with the replacement of a more risky 401K stock market venture for most, who do not understand it and a program which fails its true mission by not being compulsory; while corporations – many of them – benefit from the fees of such a concept.

    Now, it is these fees and the absence of a civic duty being practiced that are a criminality which needs to be addressed, but somehow they are overlooked like the death of construction worker, whose loss of life is seen as tragic, but for some reason not an example of criminal negligence….

    #AllWorkersDeserveTheirPensions

    #WeNeedMorePensions

    #ButWhereIsTheGrandJury?

  2. I would agree that if the crime is not related to work, as the one he plead guilty to, there is no reason to take his pension. But I think if it would have went to trial and other counts were shown to be done on company time, that’s fraud against the taxpayer and reasonable cause to suspend his pension. I do think he is entitled to what he ‘vested’ though.

  3. D@ily Spin on November 20, 2018 at 9:46 am said:

    Yes, Sideras will likely never serve time. However, the test of his life he’ll be a registered sex offender. He’ll need his pension to live away from schools. The city has been quiet because they don’t want the kind of attention they deserve. They’re not known for positive public character. Strong Mayor Charter has turned the city into a crime syndicate. They’ve become known for sponsoring and protecting insider criminal lieutenants. Working for the city has become a ‘Made Member’ status like as for the Mafia.

  4. small town on November 20, 2018 at 2:50 pm said:

    this is a small town

    how does a sleazeball like Sideras continue to live here after pleading guilty

  5. This plea is gross. I feel like protesting the court house. This is something worth marching in the streets for.

  6. The plea deal is horrible.

    What’s worse is watching the prosecutor say it’s good to see Sideras finally take responsibility for his actions.

    No mention about how he and his lawyer just tried to blame someone else it just a few days before. He should get time for that alone.

    This deal is almost as sick as sideras’s crime.

  7. MK, trust me, when I saw I was dragged into this and threatened with a subpoena, I was NOT happy.

  8. any chance that sidaris can be sued for slander, since it was an obvious lie to try and blame that other guy?

  9. I wondered if there was a threat of countersuing? I know I expressed with Jim’s attorney’s hired gun that I was NOT happy about the defense’s approach.

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