Former Assemblyman Sentenced To One Day In Jail In Fraud Scheme
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A former California assemblyman and probation official who concocted an identity theft scheme to avoid paying his debts was sentenced Monday to a day in jail and a year of home confinement.
City News Service reports that Carl E. Washington also was ordered to pay $194,000 in restitution to three financial institutions he defrauded.
He pleaded guilty to carrying out the four-year fraud in which he applied for credit cards and loans, racking up thousands of dollars in charges for airline tickets, hotels, restaurants and rental cars, and then falsely reported he'd been a victim of identity theft to avoid paying the bills.
The former legislator had a high level job as director for intergovernmental relations in the Los Angeles County Probation Department until his arrest. He lost his job with the agency.
The Democrat represented the 52nd District in South Los Angeles from 1996 to 2002.
In issuing the sentence, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero cited Washington's many years of public service, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller.
Washington will be required to serve one day in custody and then wear an electronic monitoring device while under home confinement for a year. He will be on two additional years of supervised release.
Washington's arrest was among those that drew attention to criminal behavior within the probation department.
Washington was one of at least 40 county probation employees arrested in the 12 months preceding his charges last year, 32 of whom were sworn law enforcement officers.
Officials said then the arrest was part of a crackdown on misconduct in the department, which is responsible for supervising about 80,000 criminals who have been released from jail or juvenile detention.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Washington's arrest came on top of dozens of drunken driving, drug possession and theft arrests that seemed scattered throughout the 6,500-employee agency.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
