Ex-Congressman
Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison
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Doug Mills/The New York Times
Former Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio leaving Federal
District Court in Washington today after being sentenced. |
By PHILIP SHENON and
JOHN HOLUSHA, NYTimes on the Web. January 19, 2007
WASHINGTON, -- Former
Congressman Bob Ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison today for accepting
tens of thousands of dollars in illegal gifts in return for using his
legislative influence to help his benefactors.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 27 months and Mr. Ney’s lawyers had asked
for no more than two years.
Mr. Ney, a Republican from Ohio, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of
conspiracy and making false statement in the scandals linked to the lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, who is in jail.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence at the lower lend of the 27- to-33 month
range recommended by federal sentencing guidelines because Mr. Ney had
cooperated with investigators.
But Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, of the U.S. District Court in Washington, said
Mr. Ney deserved additional time because of his “significant and serious abuse
of the public trust.”
“You have a long way to make amends for what you have done,” she said. The
sentence includes two years of probation after release from prison, 200 hours of
community service and a $6,000 fine.
Mr. Ney, who did not run for reelection, blamed his problems on alcohol
addiction and asked to be placed in a prison drug abuse program, which could
have made him eligible for release after a year in prison.
Judge Huvelle noted the problem with alcohol, but said, “I don’t think that
explains everything.” Nevertheless, she recommended that he be sent to a
prison in Morgantown, W. Va., where there is a drug treatment program.
Mr. Ney, who appeared composed during the 20-minute sentencing procedure, issued
a statement in which apologized to his family, friends and constituents.
“I stand here today with deep regret and I stand here sorrowful.”
He said he was dealing with the “demands of an addiction that was always with
me.”
The prosecutor, Mary Butler, said Mr. Ney “failed his constituents in Ohio,
failed his colleagues in the House of Representatives.”
Mr. Ney’s seat was captured by a Democrat as that party won control of the House
of Representatives at least partly by campaigning against Republican
sale-of-influence scandals.
In his plea bargain last year, Mr. Ney admitted that he had essentially sold his
office to Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying operation and others in return for a series of
lavish gifts.
Those gifts included overseas trips, the use of skyboxes at Washington-area
sports arenas, meals, concert tickets and thousands of dollars worth of gambling
chips in London casinos.
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