Bail revoked for former N.Y. police chief

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A federal judge sent former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to jail Tuesday after prosecutors said he was trying to influence potential jurors.

Kerik, whose trial is scheduled to begin next week, was taken from the courtroom in White Plains, N.Y., by federal marshals, the New York Daily News reported. He is to be held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal lockup located next to One Police Plaza, headquarters of the New York Police Department.

Prosecutors said documents not released to the public had been posted on a defense Web site. They argued Kerik hoped to taint the jury pool and asked U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson to revoke his bail.

"I fear he has a toxic combination: self-minded focus and arrogance," Robinson said.

Kerik served as police commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He later became interim minister of the interior in Iraq and was nominated U.S. secretary of homeland security by President George W. Bush, but withdrew his name a week after accepting the nomination.

In 2007, a federal grand jury in White Plains charged Kerik with accepting thousands of dollars in work on his apartment from a contractor who did business with the city.