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FLORIDA, CMC - A United States federal judge has sentenced a Jamaican-born former City Commissioner to more than four years in prison on bribery and extortion charges.
US District Judge James Cohn imposed the sentence on Fitzroy Salesman, 53, who begged for compassion.
Salesman was convicted in April by a 12-member jury after his September 2009 arrest for steering city construction contracts to bribe-paying contractors who were actually undercover FBI agents.
“The shame that has been brought on me and my family, if I could give my life to reverse it, your honour, I would,” Salesman told the judge before sentencing on Thursday.
He, however, denied taking bribes or extorting the FBI agents and informants posing as construction contractors and money managers during the two and a half year investigation.
“Your honour, I did not go down that road,” said Salesman, who also was sentenced to three years of supervised release after his release from jail.
During Salesman's trial,<span style="font-weight: bold"> prosecutors presented damning audio and video recordings of the former Miramar City Commissioner pocketing payoffs and orchestrating contributions from the FBI agents to the campaigns and pet charities of Broward County, Southern Florida politicians in order to win government construction contracts.</span>
Salesman said he was working as a legitimate political consultant while he was suspended from public office.
He told the judge that if making contributions to charities and campaigns were a crime, “I guess all the way down from the White House to city halls, crimes have been committed.”
But Judge Cohn described Salesman’s actions as “paradoxical,” noting that “Mr. Salesman would openly recognise the illegality of pay to play but, nevertheless, engage in the illegal action.”
The sentencing guidelines for Salesman, based on the amount of money involved and his criminal history, ranged from 51 to 63 months.
Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Kaplan, who prosecuted the case, had recommended that Salesman receive the maximum sentence..
“A sentence of six to seven years would be more appropriate,” he told the judge.
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