*Former Los Angeles County supervisor and city councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to three years and six months in prison on Monday after being convicted on corruption charges in March.
Ridley-Thomas, 68, was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, CBS News reports. He was convicted March 30 on one count each of conspiracy, bribery, and mail fraud; and four counts of wire fraud. Ridley-Thomas was accused of abusing his power when he collaborated with a former head of the USC School of Social Work to allegedly steer county contracts toward the school in exchange for benefits provided to Ridley-Thomas’ son, former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.
Ridley-Thomas served on the county board of supervisors at the time of the violations.
As LA Focus News reports, Ridley-Thomas will be under supervised release for three years after completing his sentence.
Los Angeles County politician Mark Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for voting in support of county contracts that would favor USC while accepting benefits for his son from the university. https://t.co/eQHRsk0wJz pic.twitter.com/aeOxX4kWJY
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 28, 2023
“What was essential to this case was that $100,000 the defendant in this case tried to funnel through USC to get to his son’s non-profit,” said Martin Estrada, United States Attorney to the Central District of California, per CBS News. “On that fact pattern, the jury convicted him.”
Prosecutors sought a six-year sentence in federal prison, while “defense attorneys sought home confinement, community service, and a fine, and requested incarceration of no more than two years and three months if necessary, according to court papers,” CBS News writes.
“The defendant was someone who knew right from wrong and chose wrong repeatedly,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndsey Dotson.
The judge ultimately sided with the prosecution, stating that “Dr. Ridley-Thomas was desperate to gain direct benefits for his son” and that Ridley-Thomas had “committed serious crimes and had not accepted responsibility or demonstrated remorse.”
As LA Focus News reports, in his statement to the court, Ridley-Thomas said, in part: “My actions — and the fallout from those actions — have hurt my family, beginning with my wife of 44 years who should never have had to go through and ordeal like this. I apologize to her with every breath and with my whole heart. And I apologize to my sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, as well as other family members whose lives have been disrupted and traumatically impacted.”
He added, “Additionally, the anguish that I feel causes me to say I’m so sorry to all of my constituents, colleagues and employees who have believed in me for many years, but who may now have doubts. I sincerely apologize to them not only for playing a role in bringing about those doubts — but also for no longer being able to be there for them in service. I can only trust and believe that the future will afford me the opportunities to continue to find ways to serve them and their families, to remove doubt and to restore faith.”
A deadline of noon on November 13, 2023, has been set for Ridley-Thomas to surrender to authorities. According to his attorneys, Ridley-Thomas intends to pursue an appeal.
READ MORE: LA City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas Will Not Resign Amid Bribery Scandal
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