Former Consultant Duncan D. Hunter of California was sentenced to 11 months in federal jail on Tuesday for funneling greater than $150,000 from his
Former Consultant Duncan D. Hunter of California was sentenced to 11 months in federal jail on Tuesday for funneling greater than $150,000 from his marketing campaign coffers to pay for a lavish way of life that prosecutors stated included holidays, non-public college tuition and even airline journey charges for pet rabbits.
The punishment, handed down by Decide Thomas J. Whelan in U.S. District Court docket in San Diego, capped a precipitous downfall for Mr. Hunter, 43, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2008 and had served within the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In an settlement with prosecutors, Mr. Hunter, who was ordered to report back to jail by late Might, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to steal marketing campaign funds. One month later, he resigned from his seat in Congress representing a conservative district in San Diego County.
“Sadly in our nation, too many individuals have come to embrace the notion that the people who write the legal guidelines really feel they’re above the legal guidelines,” Phillip Halpern, an assistant U.S. lawyer, stated Tuesday in a information convention after Mr. Hunter’s sentencing.
Mr. Hunter’s legal professionals had requested for many of his sentence to be served below dwelling confinement, contending that he had served his nation admirably within the Marines after the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults. He confronted as much as 5 years in jail as a part of the plea deal.
Devin Burstein, a lawyer for Mr. Hunter, stated in an electronic mail on Tuesday that the sentence mirrored Mr. Hunter’s service and dedication to the nation.
“The court docket noticed this case for what it was,” Mr. Burstein stated. “Removed from the assault on democracy the federal government claimed, this was merely about misspending. There was no fraud, bribery or theft of taxpayer cash. Lower than a 12 months is uncommon for a felony of this nature, and nearer to a misdemeanor sentence.”
Mr. Hunter succeeded his father, Duncan L. Hunter, a 14-term congressman who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
The elder Mr. Hunter criticized the sentence throughout a information convention exterior the courthouse and stated that two of the prosecutors concerned within the case had attended a fund-raising occasion for Hillary Clinton in 2015.
“This was a political hit job,” Mr. Hunter stated.
Prosecutors stated that the youthful Mr. Hunter and his spouse, Margaret Hunter, had been deeply in debt after they misappropriated the marketing campaign funds for his or her private use.
Mrs. Hunter additionally pleaded responsible to a corruption cost. She is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Prosecutors had additionally stated that Mr. Hunter had dipped into his marketing campaign coffers to assist pay for bills that he incurred while carrying on several affairs, together with one with a employees member.
Even after Mr. Hunter was indicted, he gained re-election in 2018. So did former Consultant Chris Collins of New York, a fellow Republican who pleaded responsible final fall to insider buying and selling. In January, Mr. Collins was sentenced to 26 months in prison.