Former aide sentenced for helping ex-congressman in fraud scheme

An ex-congressional aide to former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison for helping the congressman in a fraud scheme.

Thomas Dodd, 40, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

{mosads}In addition to his prison time, Dodd will also face three years of supervised release when he leaves prison and must forfeit more than $150,000.

Dodd pleaded guilty in March of last year to taking part in the scheme in which Stockman allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations and funneled them for personal and campaign expenses. 

Another ex-congressional aide, Jason Posey, 48, also pleaded guilty last year to several counts related to the scheme.

Stockman was convicted earlier this year on 23 charges that included money laundering, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. He was sentenced last month to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay about $1 million.

In one instance, Stockman and Dodd were accused of soliciting nearly $300,000 in 2010 from an elderly donor in Baltimore for charitable and educational purposes.

Instead, they were accused by prosecutors of funneling the money through a sham charity to be used for personal expenses.

Stockman and Dodd solicited another $165,000 from that donor in 2011 and 2012 and used the money illegally for campaign purposes, according to prosecutors.

In subsequent years, Stockman, Dodd and Posey solicited hundreds of thousands of additional dollars in charitable donations and used the money for a variety of personal and campaign purposes, according to prosecutors.