CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The mayor of North Carolina's largest city resigned on Wednesday after his arrest on public corruption charges.





U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said Wednesday that Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon is facing theft and bribery charges.





Tompkins says Cannon solicited and accepted bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers who wanted to do business in Charlotte. According to the criminal complaint, Cannon is accused of accepting bribes from the agents on five separate occasions. On the most recent occasion, on February 21,2014, Cannon allegedly accepted $20,000 in cash in the mayor's office. He is also accused of accepting from the undercover agents over $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room, and use of a luxury apartment between January 2013 and February 2014 in exchange for the use of his official position. A city spokesman says Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon resigned effective immediately just hours after he was charged. Keith Richardson said Cannon submitted his letter Wednesday to the city manager and attorney. Cannon says in the letter that the pending charges will create too much of a distraction for the business of the city to go forward.







If convicted on all the charges, he faces 20 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines.





The 47-year-old Cannon, a longtime radio show host and the founder of E-Z parking, a parking management company, was elected mayor in November, replacing Anthony Foxx.