Federal officials displayed this chart of the various transfers of district funds authorized by Harry Thomas Jr.
The U.S. attorney and other federal officials in charge of the investigation into former Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. did not mince words at a press conference this afternoon during which they laid out the particulars of the charges to which Thomas pleaded guilty today.
“As a city and community we hope today’s proceeding put behind us a dark chapter of D.C. politics,” said Ronald Machen, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Machen said Thomas’ resignation was a mandatory condition of the plea agreement Thomas entered into, and that the vehicles seized from Thomas’ house last December would be auctioned off. At a hearing earlier in the day at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colunbia, Thomas admitted to diverting $353,000 in district funds for personal expenditures as well as filing false income tax returns.
“The scheme was very simple,” Machen said. “Mr. Thomas’ crimes were an offensive abuse of power. Rather than the prospect of another four-year term, he faces the prospect of three to four years in prison.” Under the terms of his plea agreement, Thomas agreed to serve between 37 and 46 months in jail. He will be sentenced May 3.
Machen also seemed to issue a warning to other officials under investigation, including D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown.
“With regard to other investigations, elected officials are expected to do their duty with honor and dignity,” Machen said.
Machen was followed at the podium by Lanny A. Breuer, the U.S. assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Almost immediately upon taking office [Thomas] made the decision he was going to misappropriate funds,” Breuer said. “Taxpayers in the District of Columbia became his piggy-bank.”
The officials stood alongside a flowchart that laid out the various transfers of funds Thomas admitted to. Though the organization at the top of the chart that disbursed grant funds that were diverted to Thomas was labeled as “Public-Private Partnership #1,” it has been widely reported that this organization is the city’s Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation.
While Machen and the other officials avoided giving too many details, citing the continuing investigation of people around Thomas, the main thrust of the press conference was to tout their efforts in prosecuting public corruption. Nationally, the Justice Department convicted 785 federal, state and local officials in 2010, Breuer said.
Ronald T. Hosko, the special agent in charge of the criminal division at the FBI’s Washington field office, was equally unsparing in his assessment of Thomas’ actions, and issued a message that, like Machen’s, seemed to extend past today’s proceedings.
“He didn’t ‘find himself’ in this situation,” Hosko said, referring to a news commentary he told the room he watched Thursday night. “He created this situation. Where’s the outrage? It can be found in the statement of offense.”
