Former state Representative Ben Arredondo ended up receiving no prison time for his charges related to his ticket-bribery exchange and scholarship scam.
Instead, Arredondo -- a 65-year-old Republican-turned-Democrat who served on the Tempe City Council for 16 years before making it into the state House of Representatives in 2010 -- was sentenced to home confinement, probation, and was order to pay fines.
See also:
-Judge in Ben Arredondo Case: Maybe FBI Should've Gone After Wall Street Instead
-Ben Arredondo Gets a Grand Total of Zero Days in Prison in Corruption Case
-Harry Mitchell Sticks Up for Ben Arredondo, Looks at the Bright Side of Corruption
-Ben Arredondo Pleads Guilty; Plea Reveals He Also Ran a Bit of a Scholarship Scam
While federal prosecutors argued that Arredondo should have received in the neighborhood of three years in prison -- with 30 months being the minimum -- U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone disagreed.
Martone reportedly said Arredondo's crimes were "pathetic," but it wasn't "Jack the Ripper"-caliber stuff. Additionally, Martone said the feds probably could've used their resources more wisely, as it took the FBI two years to nail Arredondo for taking about $6,000 worth of tickets to ballgames and charity events, as well as directing funds in a scholarship fund to his own family members.
Martone suggested that investigators could have gone after Wall Street mortgage brokers for financial crimes instead of Arredondo, who probably isn't the most corrupt Arizona politician in recent years -- although he did get caught.
Still, do you think Arredondo deserved to be sentenced to prison?
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