WASHINGTON — Former District of Columbia councilmember Harry L. Thomas Jr. was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in prison for stealing more than $350,000 in government funds, actions the judge condemned as a "betrayal of trust."
"You stole from the people who elected you," U.S. District Judge John D. Bates told Thomas as he imposed a sentence of 3 years and 2 months for embezzling from funds that were meant to support youth sports in the District.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Haray called Thomas' thefts "the most egregious actions of public corruption ever proved against a member of the D.C. Council."
The sentence was closer to the term of nearly four years sought by the government than the 18-month term sought by Thomas' lawyers.
Thomas, whose back was turned to courtroom spectators as the sentence was read, showed no visible reaction. He declined comment after the hearing through his attorney, Karl Racine.
Thomas, until his guilty plea in January to embezzlement and filing false tax returns, served on the D.C. Council representing Ward 5, a majority-black, mixed income section of the city and the same district that his father, Harry L. Thomas Sr., represented for three terms in the 1980s and '90s.
The younger Thomas was first elected in 2006 and his thefts began within months. Between 2007 and 2009, while serving on the council, Thomas embezzled $353,500 from a public-private partnership that received taxpayer dollars. Most of the money came from a $400,000 earmark Thomas had secured on the council to support youth sports initiatives.
In court, Thomas apologized for his actions — to his family for embarrassing them and to the people of Washington for disappointing them.
"There is no excuse for the poor decisions I made. ... I let down my late father whose shadow I have followed all my life," Thomas said.
Former Washington, D.C. City Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. leaves federal court in Washington, Thursday, May 3, 2012, after being sentenced to three years and two months in prison for stealing more than $350,000 in government funds. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Thomas said at first he tried to rationalize his conduct in his own mind but ultimately concluded that "I took this money because it was a sense of entitlement ... I lost touch with the values I now cling to more than ever."
The judge recommended that Thomas serve his sentence at a minimum security federal prison camp in either Pensacola, Fla., or Montgomery, Ala. Thomas was not immediately taken into custody. He will be allowed to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons, a process that usually takes at least a few weeks.
Prosecutors said Thomas' longtime work as a youth sports volunteer and baseball coach made his theft of money dedicated to children's sports initiatives all the more galling.
Thomas "fostered a public persona as an advocate for underprivileged kids at the same time he was funneling tax dollars set aside for youth programs to his own bank accounts. This prison sentence is just punishment for his flagrant abuse of the trust placed in him by the people of the District of Columbia," said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen, whose office prosecuted the case.
Prosecutors cited the luxuries that Thomas' embezzlement afforded him as justification for a stiff sentence: a $70,000 Audi sport-utility vehicle, a $24,000 Victory motorcycle and three pairs of shoes that cost $1,374, among other items.
As part of the sentence, Bates ordered Thomas to forfeit the motorcycle and a 2008 Chevy Tahoe, both of which could be directly traced to the embezzled funds.
An open question remains of how much restitution Thomas will be ordered to pay. Prosecutors and the defense agreed to seek restitution of $353,500, the exact amount that Thomas admitted stealing. But the judge said he's considering an additional $92,500 that was diverted at Thomas' direction from a city drug program to pay for a presidential inaugural ball in 2009. The judge said he'll decide on the amount at a later date.
Thomas has so far paid back about $70,000 of what he stole, according to court papers.
His sentencing comes amid ongoing federal investigations into the use of funds in the political campaigns of D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Council Chairman Kwame Brown. In a statement Thursday, Brown said Thursday's sentence "is the final step in holding Mr. Thomas accountable to the people of the District. There is no excuse for violating the trust of public office."
Two other individuals, James Garvin and Marshall D. Banks, also pleaded guilty to helping Thomas cover up the embezzlement and are awaiting sentencing.