Correia responds to recall petition

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) – Jasiel Correia has been shying away from the media since he was arrested by the feds in October. He finally addressed the recall effort today but completely avoided talking about his serious legal issues.

Despite all that’s going on around him, Jasiel Correia doesn’t seem fazed by the recall or the federal charges against him. Today he was all smiles at the groundbreaking for the new Durfee High School, once again doubling down on his commitment to stay in office.

Even with a no confidence vote from the city council and the growing effort to recall him from office, Mayor Jasiel Correia is seemingly going about business as usual.

Correia ignored questions from the media about his legal and political troubles while playing to the crowd. He used the ground breaking at the new Durfee as one his accomplishments during his short time in office.

“This is truly a privilege and an honor, one of the great honors I will look back on in my career as the mayor of Fall River to be able to appropriate this money, to make it happen,” he said.

Correia was arrested October 11th for allegedly scamming and defrauding investors in the SnoOwl app out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In federal court he plead not guilty and in public since the arrest, he’s repeatedly denied the charges.

“You’re always under pressure as the mayor. I’m just under a little added pressure,” says Correia.

He’s also said countless times he won’t step down as mayor. T he deadline for the recall petition is tomorrow, Correia not bothered by the backlash.

“There’s always people who think you should be elected or unelected so I’m just going to keep doing my job and like I said, I think the people are happy with the results the city has generated,” he says.

Those leading the recall group tell ABC 6 News they have collected more signatures than they need.

Correia still won’t address whether or not he spent the investors’ money the FBI alleges he did.

© WLNE/ABC 6 2018