New admission adds gift of London casino chips to trips, favors
The full extent of Ohio Congressman Bob Ney's corruption became clear Friday when the Justice Department released his admission to accepting thousands of dollars' worth of gambling chips from a businessman in London, and to taking trips and favors from others he agreed to help in Con gress. Ney agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts, with the Jus tice Department rec ommending that he serve 27 months in prison. The charges otherwise would bring a maximum 10-year sentence and $500,000 fine. Yet, as he used a plea agreement to finally end his claims of innocence, the once-popular Republican from Ohio's 18th Congressional District remained out of sight. He entered an undisclosed treatment center for alcoholism, and he and his attorneys said alcohol dependency was a factor in his crimes. "I am not making any excuses, and I take full responsibility for my actions," Ney, 52, said in a statement released by his office. "Over the years I have worked to help others, but now I am the one that needs help." Ney will not formally enter his plea in U.S. District Court in Washington until Oct. 13. The six-term representative from Heath is not running for re-election, and Congress will be in pre-election recess by then. That makes it unclear whether he will resign or merely let his term lapse.
Documents from the Justice Department and statements by investigators shed light on the four-year corruption conspiracy. They say that Ney solicited and took:
A golf trip to Scotland in 2002, a vacation and gambling trip to New Orleans in 2003 and a trip to Lake George, N.Y., in 2003, with total costs exceeding $170,000.
Thousands of dollars' worth of meals and tickets to concerts and sporting events.
Tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.
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