When I saw the jail time my first reaction was "that's all?"
"Ex-Chelsea housing chief gets three years" by Sean P. Murphy and Andrea Estes | Globe Staff, July 17, 2013
A US District Court judge sentenced Michael E. McLaughlin to three years in federal prison Wednesday, saying the former executive director of the Chelsea Housing Authority picked the pockets of public housing tenants to enrich himself and make sure he received a “supercharged” pension when he retired.
In imposing the sentence, Judge Douglas P. Woodlock set aside the recommendation of prosecutors, who had sought an 18-month sentence. McLaughlin’s lawyer, Thomas M. Hoopes, asked for probation.
Related:
"McLaughlin, 67, has argued that he should not go to prison because, as his lawyer has pointed out, he has no criminal record and is “irreplaceable” in the care of his bedridden wife, who has Alzheimer’s-like symptoms and cannot be left alone."
This as he was having an affair(?) with his assistant and close personal friend.
Should have thought of that before, and trotting out the sick wife to avoid prison is a little disgusting here.
Slow Saturday Special: McLaughlin Begs For Mercy
Didn't get it in that context.
“Through self-interest, you have committed very serious crimes,” Woodlock said to a courtroom packed with more than 100 public housing tenants. “You have lined your pockets while picking the pockets of the people of the Chelsea Housing Authority. It’s money taken away from programs that are always under stress.”
He was just doing what everyone else does!
McLaughlin, 67, was ordered to report to federal prison by Sept. 13. He asked to be sent to Fort Devens in Central Massachusetts because it is close to home, but the US Bureau of Prisons will have the final say.
Devens is where they are holding Dzhokhar.
Related: DiMasi is Dying
Poor Sal stole less yet got a more severe sentence and is dying forgotten in a Kentucky jail somewhere. What secrets did he know, huh?
And what has McLaughlin got on people to receive such a sentence?? Oh, right, he pleaded guilty and cut a deal. Sal fought it.
McLaughlin pleaded guilty in February to four felonies for deliberately underreporting his income, which skyrocketed from $77,000 when he was hired in 2000 to more than $360,000 by the time he resigned in 2011. His soaring salary, along with his failure to properly report it, was first reported by the Globe in October 2011.
Given a chance to speak before his sentencing, McLaughlin cited his role in transforming the Chelsea Housing Authority from a troubled agency into one recognized by federal regulators as a high performer. But he acknowledged his accomplishments would be forever overshadowed by his criminal conviction.
Regulators were friends on the take and it enabled him to get even more tax money for his fiefdom, but when you are in denial mode.... (sigh).
McLaughlin, who once served as a Democratic state representative and county commissioner, said he “truly regretted” filing false reports — reports that underreported his income by more than $100,000 a year — blaming his actions on “my stubbornness and ego.”
“I should have reported it, and I feel terrible about it,” he said. “That was my fault. . . . I’ve undone all the good I did.”
Really, he doesn't get it, does he? I $uppo$e he is from that sector of society, the political and economic elite, that never will. The level of self- absorbed conceit is astonishing.
Related: Sunday Globe Specials: McLaughlin and the Mob
The nice guy who did good even though he behaved like a mobster.
Meanwhile, Whitey Bulger is on trial because the FBI turned on him and needed a sensational trial to show how they are solving cases and doing their jobs when not carrying out false flag attacks and setting up patsy plotters.
As a convicted felon, McLaughlin’s pension is in serious jeopardy....
Why isn't it automatically forfeit?
Prosecutors pointed out that McLaughlin had traveled extensively during his tenure as Chelsea housing director, leaving his wife behind in Massachusetts. The Globe has reported that he usually traveled with his close friend and deputy, Linda Thibodeau.
But he needs to stay out of prison because.... oh, MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Globe reported Wednesday that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development is challenging the legitimacy of about $175,000 in expenditures McLaughlin and Thibodeau racked up....
State Attorney General Martha Coakley is still investigating McLaughlin’s fund-raising on behalf of several politicians, including Murray.
Also see: The Murray-McLaughlin Connection
She didn't get a conviction on Cahill, so I dunno....
--more--"
Tenants aren't getting any money back. At the bottom of the list yet again!
UPDATED: McLaughlin: Corruption has consequences
He got off light!
