"Ex-Ohio Rep. Ney Sentenced to 30 Months"

Ex-Ohio Rep. Ney Sentenced to 30 Months
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Former Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced Friday to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a congressional bribery scandal.

Ney, the first congressman ensnared in the case, pleaded guilty to trading official favors for golf trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said that Ney would serve his time at a federal prison in Morgantown, West Virginia.

When he is released, the judge said, Ney will serve another two years on probation and pay a $6,000 fine. She also ordered him into a prison alcohol rehabilitation program for treatment of a drinking problem he has acknowledged in recent months.

The sentence was harsher than recommended by prosecutors or Ney's lawyers, Huvelle said, because Ney had violated the trust place on him as a public official. "Both your constituents and the public trusted you to represent them honestly," she said.<snip>

http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/01/19/565978.html

Take bags of money, pay a small fine, do some time in a country-club federal lock-up, reserved for white collar, big shot criminals.

Crime pays....sometimes.