AP: Ex-Official Sentenced for Abramoff Gifts (probation, fine)

[Eugene]

Ex-Official Sentenced for Abramoff Gifts

By MATT APUZZO
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; 11:17 AM

WASHINGTON -- A former Interior Department employee was sentenced to two years probation
and fined $1,000 Tuesday for failing to report gifts he received from influence-peddler Jack
Abramoff.

Roger Stillwell accepted hundreds of dollars worth of football and concert tickets from
Abramoff, who at the time was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Stillwell was with the Interior Department's insular affairs office, which handles issues involving
the island government.

"It was never my intention to deliberately violate the law, but clearly I did so, and I extend
my sincerest apologies to this court," Stillwell said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay handed down a relatively stiff penalty for the misdemeanor
offense. Defense attorneys asked for six months probation and prosecutors did not oppose it
because Stillwell cooperated in the Abramoff investigation.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900506.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Let's hope this isn't the only fellow prosecuted

It would be a tragedy if this chap is the only one caught--when are they going to take more Congresscritters and high members of the Executive Branch to trial?