Former Alaska lawmaker guilty of bribery
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/pl/071007tomanderson;_ylt=AjejaZYMb2TF9uF9RO3A9JlpaP0EBy DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 10, 12:10 AM ET
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A former Alaska lawmaker was convicted Monday of taking thousands of dollars from a corrections company consultant in exchange for his help in the Legislature. "I'm devastated," former state Rep. Tom Anderson said after the federal jury announced its bribery verdict.
Anderson, 39, was accused of conspiring to take money he thought was coming from a private prison firm, Cornell Industries Inc. The money was supplied by the FBI through an informant working for Cornell who secretly recorded his conversations with Anderson and a coconspirator, former municipal lobbyist Bill Bobrick. Anderson was one of four current or former state lawmakers facing federal bribery indictments. The other three face trial this fall for charges related to Anchorage-based oil field services company VECO Corp. "I think the prosecution has criminalized being a legislator over the last year," Anderson said. "I think I fell victim to that."
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Anderson's family, including his wife, state Sen. Lesil McGuire, were not present for the verdict.
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Anderson was arrested Dec. 7 and charged with seven felonies, including conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and interfering with commerce, a charge connected to a demand for payments. He faces a maximum penalty of 115 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine.
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Anderson was accused of accepting nearly $26,000 he thought was coming from Cornell through Frank Prewitt, a former corrections department commissioner and an FBI informant was a $150,000-per-year consultant for Cornell. The Houston-based company operated halfway houses in Alaska and hoped to build a private prison and a juvenile psychiatric treatment center in Alaska. The defense argued that Anderson backed Cornell without being on the take and that Prewitt wore a wire to bag a legislator and deflect investigators from his legal problems.
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Anderson, finishing his first term as a Republican legislator from east Anchorage, was strapped for cash, prosecutors said, as he romanced McGuire, who was then a state representative. He owed child support payments and was looking for a payoff of about $3,000 per month when the Legislature was not in session.
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News and Information from Alaska State Representative Tom Anderson.
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