Walker gets 10-year prison term [GA Democrat]
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 11/29/05 | JAMES SALZER
AUGUSTA — A federal judge Tuesday sentenced former Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker to more than 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay a $150,000 fine and $698,000 in restitution.
The Augusta Democrat received 121 months in prison, and his companies were fined $70,000 in the fraud and theft case. He and the companies also were ordered to pay $80,000 in court fees.
U.S. District Judge Dudley Bowen said he wanted to "send a message to other would-be corrupt politicians."
Walker stole at least $425,000 from a charity he created and bilked newspaper advertisers out of another $200,000, according to a sentencing report being used to help determine how much time he would serve in prison.
Walker was convicted June 3 of stealing from the charity he set up, of bilking his newspaper's advertisers by inflating circulation numbers, of strong-arming Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital into using his personnel services business, and of misrepresenting his ownership in companies doing business with the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
Prosecutors argued that at least part of the reason Walker, a millionaire, needed so much money was to feed a gambling habit.
He was suspended from office when he was convicted June 3 on 127 counts, including mail fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy.
Each of the more than 100 mail fraud charges Walker was convicted of carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Under federal rules, a sentence longer than 10 years must be served in its entirety.
Walker's daughter, Monique Walker Hill, pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in the case. She has not been sentenced. |
