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A Pickerington man who participated in a bribery scheme with former Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority member John Raphael over a multi-million-dollar food vendor contract was sentenced Tuesday to six months home confinement, community service and probation for the next four years.
Rodney L. Myers, 50, who had pleaded guilty to federal programs bribery in November 2019, was facing federal sentencing guidelines that called for up to two years in prison for his role in steering the food service contract at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Prosecutors were requesting a sentence of 20 months. A federal probation officer, using sentencing guidelines based on the potential $11.22 million food vendor Centerplate would have collected over seven years if the scheme had not been uncovered, had advised a sentence of nine years.
Credit WCBE Files
Former Columbus City Hall lobbyist John Raphael has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges for taking bribes from a food vendor in exchange for landing a favorable contract with the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Sentencing is pending. Raphael is a former Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority board member. Prosecutors say he used confidential information to charge clients 144 thousand dollars in bribes. In 2016, Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther s friend was sentenced to 15 months for extorting campaign contributions for city officials from traffic enforcement camera vendor Redflex.
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Former Columbus City Hall lobbyist John Raphael pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus Wednesday morning to a single count related to accepting a bribe in 2015 from a firm seeking a Greater Columbus Convention Center food contract while he sat on the center s board.
Raphael pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King to one count of honest services wire fraud. King asked Raphael if he understood that he faced up to 20 years in federal prison, followed by up to three years of probation, could be ordered to forfeit $144,000 he gained from the scheme, pay a fine up to double that amount, and make restitution to any victims of his crime.