Former Senate President Manny Aragon was sentenced today to 5.5 years in federal prison for his role in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse scandal, The Associated Press is reporting.
Aragon was also fined $750,000 — most of which he has already forfeited to the government — and ordered to pay at least $649,000 in restitution, the news service reported.
Read about it here.
Aragon pleaded guilty in October to three felony counts of conspiracy and mail fraud. He was accused of pocketing more than $600,000 in the scheme in which prosecutors say he and several others stole $4.2 million in taxpayer money by inflating and falsifying invoices during construction of the courthouse.
Earlier this month, several high-profile politicians and others wrote letters seeking leniency for Aragon in the imposing of fines and restitution. Doesn’t look like he got much leniency.
Today’s article from the news service says the sentence came after Aragon gave a “rambling 20-minute speech about his early years and his life in politics.”
“The speech ended when he broke down from emotion while talking about the ‘punishment’ of losing his jobs as Senate president and as president of New Mexico Highlands University,” the article states.
And he apologized, as he has done before.
The punishment of losing his job? Come on…