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Veon guilty on 10 counts

Veon guilty on 10 counts

HARRISBURG -- A Dauphin County jury found former Democratic state Rep. Mike Veon and his ex-aide guilty this morning of charges related to the misuse of taxpayer grants directed to the lawmaker's Beaver County nonprofit.

The jurors' decision came in the trial's 11th day, after nine days' of testimony and several days of deliberations. It was announced to a packed courtroom, which included Mr. Veon's wife, Stefanie.

Mr. Veon, 55, is scheduled to be sentenced by Dauphin County Judge Bruce Bratton on April 18.

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The ex-lawmaker from Beaver Falls was facing his second corruption trial in less than two years. He was accused of improperly spending portions of the $10 million in taxpayer-funded grants that he secured for the Beaver Initiative for Growth, his nonprofit.

State prosecutors outlined how those funds were used to pay for a lucrative legal retainer for a longtime Veon staffer and to pay for additional office spaces that were used by Democratic caucus employees. They also alleged that Mr. Veon secured a high-paying position for his brother with a firm that the nonprofit paid more than a $1 million in consulting fees.

Defense attorneys countered that there was no evidence presented proving that the grant dollars were mispent.

Mr. Veon, who served 22 years in the state House of Representatives before his electoral defeat in 2006, was convicted on 10 of the 15 counts of theft, conflict of interest and conspiracy. Jurors found him not guilty on the charges related to the retainer paid to former aide Jeff Foreman, but agreed with the prosecution's arguments that the office rents paid by BIG were improper.

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His former aide, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, was found guilty of all six of the theft-related counts she faced.

Both were convicted in 2010 on separate charges stemming from the state attorney general's probe of a House Democratic scheme to use public funds to reward staffers for doing political work.

Mr. Veon has been serving his six- to 14-year sentence at a state prison in Somerset County, and Ms. Perretta-Rosepink has been free on bail as she appeals her conviction.

The new conviction could extend Mr. Veon's current sentence significantly if the judge decides to make the two sets of punishment consecutive prison terms, rather than allowing them to be served simultaneously. Attorney General's Office spokesman Nils Frederiksen said prosecutors will ask that the sentences be consecutive.

Joel Sansone, one of Mr. Veon's two defense attorneys, said afterward that they plan to file an appeal to what they consider an unjust verdict resulting from a political prosecution.

"The people of Pennsylvania have suffered a loss that they do not understand because they believe this was justice," Mr. Sansone said, slamming the tax dollars spent on the prosecution as wasteful. "It was not justice -- it was politics."

Mr. Frederiksen of the attorney general's office said the verdict, along with earlier convictions of Mr. Veon and others in the legislative corruption probe that ensnared more than 20 House lawmakers and staffers, should be viewed collectively as a cautionary message to public officials.

"With each one of these convictions, it should underscore even more that the people's money and the people's resources belong to the people of Pennsylvania and not to politicians who decide they are above the law," he said.

First Published: March 5, 2012, 3:45 p.m.

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