A federal court docket decide granted disgraced ex-Boston Metropolis Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s request to delay her sentencing date, which was initially set for the tip of this month however will now be held in early September.
Fernandes Anderson, 46, will likely be sentenced on Sept. 5 in Boston federal court docket, following her conviction this previous Could on two public corruption felony fees, the court docket disclosed on Friday.
The ex-councilor, by means of her lawyer, had requested a roughly 30-day delay in sentencing to permit the probation workplace further time to evaluate documentation she had submitted to that workplace’s draft presentence report, per court docket information.
The federal decide presiding over the case, Indira Talwani, additionally granted Fernandes Anderson’s request to switch the circumstances of her launch, and journey exterior of the state to assist care for her toddler grandchild.
“Currently, Ms. Anderson’s conditions of release limit her travel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” her lawyer, Scott Lauer, wrote in a Thursday federal court docket submitting. “This request arises out of Ms. Anderson lately changing into a grandmother.
“The newborn child resides in Rhode Island with Ms. Anderson’s son. Ms. Anderson seeks leave to visit her infant grandchild and assist her son in caring for the baby,” the ex-councilor’s lawyer wrote.
Fernandes Anderson pleaded responsible on Could 5 to 2 of six public corruption felony fees that had been lodged in opposition to her in a federal indictment final December, when she was additionally arrested by the feds exterior her Dorchester residence.
The ex-councilor agreed to plead responsible to 2 of the fees — one rely of wire fraud and one rely of theft regarding a federal program — as a part of a plea cope with the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace. The 4 different wire fraud fees had been dropped as a part of the plea deal she entered into with federal prosecutors in early April.
The fees are tied to a kickback scheme Fernandes Anderson carried out at Metropolis Corridor two years in the past. The then-councilor doled out a $13,000 bonus to one in every of her Council staffers, a relative however not speedy member of the family, on the situation that $7,000 be kicked again to her. The handoff was coordinated by textual content and occurred in a Metropolis Corridor lavatory in June 2023, the federal indictment states.
The federal indictment mentions that Fernandes Anderson could have been motivated, partially, by the “personal financial difficulty” she was dealing with. Fernandes Anderson was staring down an impending $5,000 fantastic for a state ethics violation round that point interval, for hiring two speedy relations to her Metropolis Council employees, giving them raises, and within the case of her sister, a bonus.
Fernandes Anderson was paid a $120,000 wage as a metropolis councilor and represented District 7, which incorporates Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and a part of the South Finish. Her resignation from the physique took impact on July 4.
U.S. Lawyer Leah Foley has beneficial that the ex-councilor be sentenced to a 12 months and a day in jail and ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution.
Foley petitioned the court docket earlier this month to compel Fernandes Anderson to pay $13,000 as a penalty for the Metropolis Corridor kickback scheme she was convicted for, and permit the federal government to grab the ex-councilor’s property and property as much as that quantity, if she is unable to supply the restitution quantity either side agreed to within the plea deal.
The federal decide presiding over the case has warned Fernandes Anderson that she will be able to choose to not take the prosecution’s advice and impose a harsher sentence than outlined within the plea settlement.
The cost of wire fraud can carry a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fantastic, whereas the sentence for a cost of theft regarding packages receiving federal funds can go as much as 10 years in jail, together with carrying a fantastic as much as $250,000.
Fernandes Anderson submitted her letter of resignation to the town on June 12, six weeks after her felony conviction. She defied calls to resign for months, which had been leveled by Mayor Michelle Wu and 5 metropolis councilors, together with the council president, instantly after her arrest and indictment final December.
Councilors could be faraway from the physique solely after sentencing for a felony, reasonably than conviction, per state legislation.
Fernandes Anderson was the primary Muslim American, African immigrant and previously undocumented individual to be elected to the Metropolis Council, and first took workplace in January 2022.
Her resignation took impact throughout her second time period, and can go away a emptiness on the Metropolis Council till the subsequent District 7 councilor is elected in November. Eleven candidates are working for the seat. The sector will likely be whittled down to 2 finalists after the September preliminary election.
