MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Former state Sen. John Ford, once among Tennessee’s most powerful lawmakers, was sentenced yesterday to 5½ years in prison for bribery.
Ford, 65, was one of five former lawmakers convicted of bribery or extortion in a statewide corruption investigation code-named Tennessee Waltz.
He was convicted in April of taking $55,000 in bribes from FBI agents posing as dishonest businessmen representing a company called E-Cycle Management. The company, which sought a change in state law for a business advantage, was a front created by the FBI.
In addition to the prison term, Ford was sentenced to two years on supervised probation.
Ford, the uncle of Democratic Leadership Council chairman and former Tennessee Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., declined to comment as he left court, but he apologized for his wrongdoing Monday.
“I accept the jury’s verdict and take full, total and complete responsibility for my actions,” said Ford, a Democrat.
Ford’s attorney said he planned to appeal both the conviction and sentence, though he would not specify the grounds.
U.S. Attorney David Kustoff called the sentence “fair and reasonable.”
Ford, who spent three decades in the Senate and took the most bribe money by far of the Tennessee Waltz probe lawmakers, is a member of one of Memphis’ most active political families.
He still faces unrelated federal charges in Nashville, where he is accused of misreporting $800,000 in payments from contractors with TennCare, the state’s medical insurance program for the poor.
Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon was also convicted at trial in the case and is serving a five-year prison sentence. The other lawmakers pleaded guilty; two await sentencing and the other spent nine months in prison.
The federal Bureau of Prisons will decide when Ford must report for his sentence and where it will be served.
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