A federal judge in Houston on Wednesday sentenced a former GOP congressional aide to 18 months in prison for helping former Rep. Steve Stockman defraud wealthy campaign donors out of more than $1.25 million by creating phony charities.
Thomas Dodd, 40, of Houston, was also ordered to forfeit $153,044.28 in illicit gains and pay $800,000 in restitution.
Dodd pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one of conspiracy to make conduit contributions and false statements.
A former aide to Stockman, Texas Republican, he admitted that he conspired with his former boss to conceal $15,000 in illegal campaign contributions that he another aide helped facilitate.
Stockman who served a two-year term in Congress in the mid-1990s and again from 2013 to 2015 was convicted in April on 23 criminal counts, including mail and wire fraud, violating federal election law and lying on a federal tax return. He is now serving a 10-year prison term.
Dodd, who testified at Stockman’s trial, said he helped the congressman solicit lucrative contributions from wealthy organizations and the individuals who ran those organizations. He said they mislead the donors about the donation’s purpose and then used a series of sham charities and dozens of bank accounts to launder the money, which was ultimately funneled to Stockman for personal and campaign expenses.
Prosecutors say that in 2010, Stockman and Dodd solicited an elderly donor in Baltimore more $285,000, they said would be used for legitimate charitable and educational purposes. They created a phony charity and then funneled the money through it to pay for personal expenses.
The same donor contributed a combined $165,000 in 2011 and 2012 under the belief it would go to charity. Instead, much of the money was used to finance Stockman’s 2012 congressional campaign, prosecutors said.
Another Stockman aide Jason T. Posey, 48, pleaded guilty in October to crimes related to the scheme. He will be sentenced in January.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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