State Rep. La Shawn Ford’s federal case was resolved Monday in court with the Austin lawmaker pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of misreporting his federal taxes in 2007.
Federal prosecutors dropped the 17 felony counts of bank fraud they had filed in November 2012 against Ford. He had faced up to decades in prison in the case that he had fought vigorously from the start.
Ford arrived at the Dirksen Federal Building Monday morning sportingd wide grin and offered hugs to a half dozen of his supporters who had gathered there, our partners at the Austin Weekly News reported.
After Monday’s court appearance, Ford’s attorney Thomas Durkin praised the eight-year legislator for having “the courage of his convictions” to fight the charges, the Austin Weekly News reported.
Ford will be sentenced Nov. 7 by Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer. She told Ford that federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of 0 to six months or up to one year in prison, according to the Austin Weekly News.
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Here’s what the Chicago Sun-Times reported and the Chicago Tribune.