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Former Ney Staffer Latest Guilty Plea in Abramoff Scandal
Today, ex-Rep. Bob Ney's (R-OH) former chief of staff pled guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff scandal, making Will Heaton the second of Ney's chiefs of staff to do so. The first one, Neil Volz, continues to cooperate with prosecutors.
We'll have the court documents up soon, but the AP has the basics of what he admitted to:
According to federal court documents filed Monday, Heaton's conspiracy charge involves that trip and others. Prosecutors say he also helped Ney solicit and conceal gifts given by lobbyists."Heaton and Ney solicited and accepted a stream of things of value from Abramoff and his lobbyists, including overseas and domestic trips, meals and drinks, golf, tickets to professional sporting events and concerts, and monetary and in-kind campaign contributions from Abramoff," prosecutors wrote.
Heaton, who went to work for Ney in 2001 (ultimately succeeding Volz, who went off to join Abramoff), is 28 years old. More soon.
Update: Here is the "Information" filed by prosecutors, detailing the charges against Heaton.
Comments (10)
nofltwlt wrote on February 26, 2007 4:36 PM:Sentence Ney, Abramoff and this joker to serve time in the general population at a real prision. This will enact defacto ethics reform in all branches of government, politics and lobbying.
Anonymous wrote on February 26, 2007 4:52 PM:I have to admit that rape would straighten out this lot but what about all the closet gays in the repulican party, maybe it would be just like a jailhouse buffet for them.
klyde wrote on February 26, 2007 5:16 PM:No I think we should give them a choice PMITA prison or Marine infantry.
San Hensel wrote on February 26, 2007 6:20 PM:Next up: Ralph Reed!
I hope, at least.
Sam Hensel wrote on February 26, 2007 6:21 PM:Next up: Ralph Reed!
I hope, at least.
numbertwopencil wrote on February 26, 2007 7:56 PM:"PMITA prison or Marine infantry"
Now that's an interesting idea. Perhaps Congress can work on a law that makes it easier for white collar criminals to sign up instead of going to jail. It's probably a good idea to add a few restrictions about where these guys can serve, you might not want them in, say, the quartermasters corps handling pallets of undocumented money. But, say, going foot patrols in Baghdad should be okay.
pathman wrote on February 26, 2007 7:56 PM:Is this Heaton guy related to Patricia Heaton the Republican actress? Can anyone connect the dots?
burro wrote on February 26, 2007 8:59 PM:Heaton has three sisters, Sharon, Alice, and Frances, and one brother, Michael, who is the "Minister of Culture" columnist for Cleveland Plain Dealer and a writer for the paper's Friday Magazine.
burro wrote on February 26, 2007 9:00 PM:previous via Wikipedia
Extradite Rumsfeld wrote on February 27, 2007 2:38 AM:They deserve nothing better than Abu Ghraib for their treasonous America-hating swindling.
Maybe Linndie England and her boyfriend can be sprung from Leavenworth, and put in charge of the whole Abramoff/Cunningham/Ney/DeLay/Foggo Axis of Evil cell-block.
I also don't see why we're bothering with a formal trial, or even habeus corpus for these guys. Send them on a 6 month vacation to Syria to prove to them first hand whether torture works or not.
Seriously.