Who Has Been Indicted With Fed Ed?

Yesterday, I told you that I expected to see Allentown Mayor Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski indicted before the day was over. NBC-10's Jim Friedman was the first real reporter, as opposed to bottom-feeding blogger, to break the story late in the afternoon. The other news outlets quickly followed.

It's bigger than I thought. Five people have been indicted, including Fed Ed and Allentown Attorney Scott Allinson. The US Attorney's Office has scheduled two news conferences on both Wednesday and Thursday. From this, I infer that the still-sealed indictments encompass political corruption in both Allentown and Reading.

In Reading, former Mayor Vaughn Spencer may be one of those indicted, although I had thought he was cooperating with federal authorities.

Another likely defendant is Dean Miller. He was the former Executive Director of the Reading Water Authority, and at the same time, owned a meter reading company that read the meters.  This company overbilled some customers while winking at others.

The Reading Water Company's records were part of the FBI subpoena list.

I suspect that the fifth Defendant may be a local entrepreneur with business interests in both Reading and Allentown, but this is purely a guess on my part.

We'll know soon enough.  

Neisser Sentencing Continued Until October 11

Mark Neisser, who has pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery in a federal investigation of political corruption in Allentown and Reading, was supposed to be sentenced today.  At the government's request, that sentencing has been delayed until October 11.  

Disgraced Reading Council Prez Seeks Sentence Reduction

Francis Acosta, the Reading City Council President who was the first public official to plead guilty to federal political corruption charges in an investigation embracing both Reading and Allentown, wants his sentence reduced to time served. Acosta was sentenced in February 2016 by US District Judge Juan R. Sánchez to two years in prison as a result of his participation in an $1,800 bribery scheme.

“He abused the trust of the people of Reading," Judge Sánchez said when sentence was imposed. "He took a bribe and showed that he could be bought."

Acosta is seeking early release because he has back problems, high blood pressure and needs to care for a special needs child.

The political corruption investigation in Reading and Allentown features many of the same players.

Like Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski, Spencer, aka Public Official No.1, has yet to be charged. But unlike Pawlowski, Spencer lost his re-election bid two years ago.

Reading City Council Prez Pleads to Bribery

This comes straight from the United States Attorney Zane David Memeger's news release concerning Reading City Council President Francisco Acosta's plea to accepting an $1,800 bribe in exchange for an ordinance that would rollback limits on campaign spending:

In the spring of 2015, Acosta conspired with a person identified as “Public Official #1” to repeal these restrictions before the May 19, 2015 primary election through a bribery scheme, in violation of federal criminal law. Public Official #1 was a Reading public official who had the power to sign into law ordinances that had been passed by City Council. Public Official #1 was also a candidate in the Democratic Party’s primary election, scheduled for May 19, 2015. Public Official #1 decided to offer Acosta an $1,800 “loan” to the campaign committee of Acosta’s ally ( “Public Official #2”), which would be “forgiven” upon Acosta successfully orchestrating a repeal of Sections 1012 and 1006(H). Acosta accepted the payment on April 10, 2015 and then, three days later, introduced legislation to eliminate certain restrictions in the Code of Ethics in accordance with Public Official #1’s wishes (“the repeal bill”). As agreed to by Public Official #1 and Acosta, the repeal bill would have repealed Section 1012 in its entirety, thereby eliminating the restrictions on campaign contributions and nullifying Section 1006(H)’s prohibition on awarding “no-bid contracts” to certain donors.

To conceal his participation in the scheme, Public Official #1 sought to finance any campaign contributions to Public Official #2 with funding from third parties. Public Official #1 also sought to offer Acosta additional funding for the campaign committee of Public Official #2 as a reward for Acosta successfully orchestrating the passage of the repeal bill, although only a single payment – an $1,800 check payable to the campaign of Public Official #2 (“the bribe check”) – was ever provided to Acosta. When Acosta took possession of the bribe check, he agreed that, in order to avoid scrutiny of his agreement with Public Official #1, neither Acosta nor Public Official #2 would deposit the bribe check until a later date.

Acosta attempted to persuade other members of City Council to pass the repeal bill before the primary election by falsely asserting that he was motivated solely by the best financial interests of Reading and by concealing that he had received the bribe check. Then, on April 21, 2015, Acosta made materially false statements to FBI agents who were investigating the bribery scheme. Acosta falsely denied that he had accepted a bribery offer from Public Official #1 and that he had ever possessed or received the bribe check. In fact, as Acosta well knew, he had previously agreed to Public Official #1’s bribery offer and still had possession of the bribe check at the time of his false statements to the agents.

Within 24 hours of his interview with FBI agents on April 21, 2015, Acosta took affirmative steps to withdraw from the conspiracy, all without alerting other members of the conspiracy of the FBI’s inquiry into this matter. Acosta then met with the government at his earliest opportunity in order to accept responsibility for his wrongdoing. Acosta subsequently absented himself from the vote on the repeal bill, which was defeated unanimously by the remaining members of Reading City Council.

“Elected officials have an obligation to provide their constituents with honest services,” said Memeger. “When officials sell their services, particularly to repeal anti-corruption legislation, as Acosta admitted here, they do tremendous damage to the integrity of our governmental system. This office remains committed to investigating and prosecuting public corruption at all levels of government.”

“When government officials agree to sell their services, they betray their constituents who rightfully expect high ethical standards,” said FBI Special Agent-in-Charge William F. Sweeney. “The FBI will continue to aggressively investigate allegations of public corruption, and work with our partners to ensure that those who violate their obligation to the public are held accountable.”

After accepting Acosta’s guilty plea, U.S. District Court Judge Juan R. Sanchez scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 18, 2015. Acosta faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

Reading's Hockey Arena to Report $700k Loss

Nearly a year ago, The Morning Call warned that Reading's Sovereign Center - a combined hockey arena and event center - was by no means a smashing success. Now, from The Reading Eagle, we know that their Sovereign Center to show an operating loss of $700,000 this year.