Posted January 28, 2017 6:45 am by Comments

By Jenn Jacques

ex-mayor

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania mayor avoided jail time Friday but will serve two years on probation for accumulating Wild West artifacts he bought with public money for a museum that was never built.

Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed was sentenced to two years of probation during a brief hearing in the courthouse around the corner from his one-time mayoral offices.

Reed told Judge Kevin Hess that he took responsibility for his crimes, which include two felonies. He apologized and called his prosecution “a gut-wrenchingly humiliating” process.

Reed, a 67-year-old Democrat, pleaded guilty earlier this week to 20 counts of receiving stolen property. All the charges involve photos or documents, a small portion of some 1,800 items investigators seized from his properties about two years ago.

Hess said prison time would have been grossly disproportionate and said his sentence took into account Reed’s guilty plea, his lack of a criminal record, his efforts to improve the city over 28 years as mayor and his current cancer diagnosis.

“This is not about the propriety of raising money for historical artifacts, nor is it about the wisdom of building museums in Harrisburg,” the judge said.

Rebecca Franz, a prosecutor with the state attorney general’s office, said …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms

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