Posted on 07/18/2005 5:07:33 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - The former boss of a city-run job training school who gave a no-show job to a woman he had sex with was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for his role in bilking thousands of dollars from the agency.
Gerald Phillips, a 51-year-old former police commissioner in Springfield, was convicted in March of being the ringleader of a conspiracy that bled a total of $50,000 from the Massachusetts Career Development Institute. Three others have also been convicted in the scam.
U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor ordered Phillips to serve 21 months in prison, pay a $30,000 fine and repay a portion of the money he drained from the agency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Welch said the agency, which offers job training classes to mostly low-income students, was run like a monarchy under Phillips' watch.
"It was King Gerry," Welch said. "It wasn't MCDI's money, it was his. The employees were his serfs. The students coming through the door were his property."
Phillips was not convicted of any sex crimes, but prosecutors say he used his position as the job agency's executive director to pressure a woman for sex.
The woman, Gretchen Ortiz, testified that Phillips gave her a job as a muffin wrapper in the agency's bakery division, which sold food to the city's public school system.
Phillips soon told Ortiz she didn't have to show up at the job, but saw to it that she was still on the payroll.
"I recognize I have made some serious mistakes," Phillips said before he was sentenced. Reading from a prepared statement, he apologized to his family and MCDI's staff and students, whom he called "innocent victims" in the ordeal.
During the time in 2000 that Ortiz was a no-show employee, MCDI paid her about $7,000. But Phillips intercepted her payroll checks, cashed them, and used the money to pay her rent, utility and grocery bills.
In return, prosecutors said, Phillips received sex from Ortiz. But Phillips' lawyer, David Hoose, said the sex was consensual, and only happened twice.
Muffin-wrapper :-?
Hey, good muffin-wrappers don't come cheap.. I wonder if illegals know how to wrap muffins?
$30,000 to get laid twice? Damn that's spendy. I guess some people pay about that much in divorce. Glad the crook is going to do time. Bet he was a Democrat.
Yes, he lives on Drury lane.
Looks cheap from here.
Perhaps she was a "'wrap' artist".
I don't remember this story in the Boston Herald, but this kind of thing is so common here that I probably just said ho-hum, bidness as usual.
I'd take a bet that 50% of the hacks in this pukehole are on the take.
I forget the exact stat, but it's something like criminals only get caught after committing crimes after the first 10.
And MA hacks are the tutti-de-tutti hackos.
The paperboys hardly even have to work for their corruption stories, which in itself, almost sounds like a hack job, LOL!
Journalism School Ad: "Hey, move to Boston as a investigative reporter and never have to bust your hump again"
Looks like he was the one wrapping muffins. LMAO!
Springfield is about an hour and a half west of Boston. This is home grown corruption, not Boston based.
It is easily the most corrupt and bankrupt city in MA (and that is saying a lot.) The FBI is spending a lot of time rolling up these guys. This particular guy used to be the chief of staff of the Mayor's office and the head of the Police Commission.
The word on the street is that the Feds are trying to get these guys to roll on the former mayor, but no one is talking.
"I recognize I have made some serious mistakes," Phillips said before he was sentenced.
Gee, ya think?
Everyone in Springfield is a Dem. That's one of the reasons I moved to Arizona.
I pull stuff off the AP wire and differnet sites and oft use Bakersfield paper's site as it is clean, loads quick ,, etc, this is all over the AP news wire, btw.
I hear ya tho, Boston and corruption, ho hum.. lol
He must not be in Barney Franks's district, not that that should matter. ;-)
Thanks for the location info.
Apologies if my comment seemed typically Boston-Centric (it happens way too much) I was trying to speak in general terms about MA.
It is easily the most corrupt and bankrupt city in MA
Is that on a per capita, or total, if total, I think Boston's gotcha beat.
What a lame 'apology'... He was probably thinking: "YEah, my mistake was getting caught."
As a longtime bagel slicer for the state of Massachusetts, I am outraged over this story. I've been trying to get promoted to muffin wrapper for 7 years now and I've been passed over at least three times. I guess I'm just going to have to sleep my way to the top like everybody else.
Those are Bob Beckel type numbers...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.