Norman Geoff McMahon and his former business partner Curtis Slade, both accused of bribing a Bureau of Land Management employee, will go to trial on June 19 in U.S. District Court, the Farmington Daily Times reported today on its Web site.

McMahon, a Farmington-area land developer who has been active in local politics, was indicted by a federal grand jury in December on charges that he paid BLM employee Ralph Mason a total of $7,000 in exchange for permits to mine humate, an organic mineral used in soil conditioners, supplements and fertilizers.

Slade is charged with paying Mason $8,000 between January and September 2002 for permits to mine sand and gravel on Crouch Mesa, the Daily Times reported.

Both men have entered not-guilty pleas to the charges.

They will be tried before U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez in a trial that will begin in Albuquerque, then move to Santa Fe, the Daily Times reported.

Mason was a BLM geologist who handled the Farmington office's permit process, office spokesman Bill Papich told the Daily Times. Mason resigned on Dec. 3, 2003, Papich has said.

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