The Associated Press reports that John Rowland, Connecticut's former Governor, was sentenced today to a year in prison.
Rowland was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Peter C. Dorsey after Rowland pleaded guilty to a corruption charge in December:
Dorsey sentenced Rowland to a year plus one day in prison, four months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. He ordered Rowland to report to prison on April 1 in Fort Devens, Mass.
"Officials are expected to serve not his own interest or the interest of his friends, but the highest interest of the community," Dorsey said. "Gratuities were accepted as if they were his due."
New London's The Day reports that Federal prosecutors accused Rowland of violating the terms of his plea agreement by hiding a $417,000 retirement account from his probation officer, and would seek a longer prison term.
According to the Associated Press, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy urged Dorsey to give Rowland a harsher sentence:
If that person, John Rowland, is not held accountable, than the people's trust simply isn't that important." Honest government matters, it has to matter. Send that message, send it loud and clear. Without that rule of law, we are all lost.
What a shameful end to a public service career.
I complained to Rowland's Office as early as 1996 about Connecticut State police misconduct and corruption.
Because Rowland is corrupt I was railroaded to prison to shut me up.
The first thing I did when I got out is call the newspapers and the US Atty for Connecticut.
Ha, ha, Rowland, I'm getting the last laugh ...
-Steven G. Erickson aka Vikingas
Posted by: Steven G. Erickson | Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 10:55 PM