Our series on Dauphin County Local Share Gaming Funds continues with this series of videos on how Witaker Center applied for and received a million dollar grant to produce a multimillion dollar IMAX movie about the Chesapeake Bay, Whitaker CEO Michael Hanes presents John O'Connell and Rachel Manzo of the Trinity Group.
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From the Philadelphia Inquirer :
Lobbyist's fall rattles Pa. Capitol John O'Connell admitted embezzling. His plea agreement calls for him to help investigate others.
Lobbyist's fall rattles Capitol April 19, 2006|By Mario F. Cattabiani
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
John O'Connell, one of Harrisburg's top lobbyists at the age of 36, remembers July 24, 2004, as the day he hit bottom. He bet on 13 baseball games and lost all but one of them.
It was then he decided to quit. But not before he had embezzled thousands of dollars to pay off his mounting debts with Philadelphia and Harrisburg bookies.
On Monday, federal prosecutors charged O'Connell with mail fraud for siphoning money from Pennsylvania Law Watch, a group he had formed to lobby for tort reform in Pennsylvania.In a deal with prosecutors, O'Connell agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which could mean two years or more in jail.
"I had a huge gambling problem that I no longer have," said O'Connell, a former consultant and aide to former Gov. Tom Ridge and State Rep. John Perzel (R., Phila.), who is now House Speaker. "I made a mistake, and I'll deal with it."
In a disclosure that is bound to cause a stir in the Capitol, the plea agreement says O'Connell agreed in January to act in an "undercover capacity" and allow federal authorities to monitor and record conversations he had with people "believed to be engaged in criminal conduct."
It was unclear whether O'Connell had cooperated in the months since the plea agreement was signed and the formal charges were filed.
O'Connell would not comment on it. Kim Daniel, an assistant U.S. attorney, refused to discuss details of the case but said that language was a standard part of many such plea agreements.
O'Connell, who arrived at the Capitol in 1993 as an aide to Perzel, is expected to be arraigned and formally plead guilty in two weeks.
"He's admitted it and is trying to make the thing right. What else are we supposed to do as human beings?" said Perzel, who described O'Connell as smart and a hard worker.
"He's been my friend and is still my friend. And I hope to support him later in life when this is all over."
Federal prosecutors believe O'Connell cut more than $160,000 in checks to himself from Pennsylvania Law Watch - a group he had formed in 2001, first to support judicial candidates and then to advocate for tort reform.
Under the plea agreement, however, prosecutors charged O'Connell with one mail-fraud count relating to a $6,359 check.
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Rachel Manzo plead guilty to one misdemeanor count related to the Bonusgate investigation and is scheduled for sentencing on August 9th, 2011.
Photo/Natalie Cake