Former N.C. congressman (D) sentenced to four years in prison

Newsobserver.com ^ | Oct 12, 2005 | EMERY P. DALESIO

[Hadean]

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. -- Former Rep. Frank Ballance was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for conspiring to divert taxpayer money to his supporters and family through a charitable organization he helped start. Ballance, 63, a longtime state legislator before being elected to Congress, has until Dec. 30 to turn himself in, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle ruled.

Ballance also agreed to repay $61,917.25 and to forfeit $203,000 in a bank escrow account in the name of the John A. Hyman Memorial Foundation.

"I want to apologize to my family and all the people I represent for what, I call them mistakes, but they were violations of the law," Ballance said in court before he was sentenced.

Ballance, a Democrat who represented the 1st Congressional District, reached a plea bargain last November in which he acknowledged conspiring to commit mail fraud and launder money. Under the terms of the deal, he could have received up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years' supervised release.

Ballance resigned from Congress in June 2004, citing ill health, without completing his first term.

Before then, between 1994 and 2003 while Ballance was a powerful state senator, he channeled $2.3 million in state money from 1994 to 2003 to the nonprofit Hyman Foundation he operated to help poor people fight drug and alcohol abuse, according to a 51-page indictment the government filed in September 2004.

Ballance forged the foundation director's signature on state money requests and diverted foundation money to pay a $15,500 legal bill in a criminal case and more than $69,000 in rent to his church, which housed the foundation's office, according to the indictment.

"He ran that foundation like a private piggy bank," federal prosecutor Dennis Duffy said. "No one in the Hyman Foundation even knew how much they were getting."

Ballance admitted dipping into foundation money to give his son $20,000 toward a Lincoln Navigator luxury sport utility vehicle; to pay his daughter $5,000 for computer services she didn't perform; and to sharing $143,250 with his mother to pay for community programs.

Defense attorney Joseph Cheshire V agreed Ballance channeled money to his family and firm. He denied, though, that his client participated in a conspiracy with others to launder money.

"What we have here is a man who is a politician, who had a nonprofit, and who got the foundation funded to the tune of $2.3 million. The vast majority of that money went to the purpose it was supposed to," Cheshire said.

The former congressman's son, state District Court Judge Garey Ballance, 35, pleaded guilty in April to a federal misdemeanor charge of failing to file an income tax return in 2000 and was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in prison and fined $5,000. He has until Jan. 2 to turn himself in to authorities.

Garey Ballance's court district includes Warren, Franklin, Vance and Granville counties.

The state Judicial Standards Commission is considering whether Garey Ballance's guilty plea makes him unfit to serve as a judge.

Ballance was replaced in Congress by G.K. Butterfield, a former state Supreme Court justice who easily won election in November to a full term.

[Redneck Limey]

"There was no grand conspiracy. They know that. Just some misspent money," Ballance said. (From the AP version of the story....missing from this piece I notice)

Just some misspent money huh? Considerably more than involved in the Tom Delay issue it would seem. Last time I looked I couldn't find the word theft under "misspent" in my thesaurus.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Thanx 4 the ping, Con.

Bottom line is we have the "Voter Rights Act" to thank for this .

We have two "homeland districts" set aside for blacks in our fair state: a rural black district (sprawling with erose boundaries over highly selective portions of eastern NC, providing a comfy Congressional seat first for Eva Clayton, then Frank Ballance, and now G.K. Butterfield); and an urban black district (the infamous I-85 district stringing together the "hoods" of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro, for the benefit of utterly venal Congressman-for-life Mel Watt).

OK, NC Congressional Districts 1 and 12 are solidly Dem districts forever. And ya know what? That isn't all bad. Because once the "homeland districts" are established, once we give into black racism and separatism, the remaining Congressional districts are, perforce, more conservative.

So, let NC Congressional Districts 1 and 12 stew in their own funky, corrupt juices. The other eleven districts will, on balance, give our state a conservative voice in the U.S. House. Works for me.

[csvset]

A two-fer, as his son, a judge, is going down as well.

[cf_river_rat]

A two-fer, as his son, a judge, is going down as well.

I saw the son on TV last night blaming this whole mess on Republicans (or Repuhlicans as he pronounces it). It was priceless.

[Constitution Day]

(or Repuhlicans as he pronounces it)

LOL! I wish I had seen that.

Typical Democrat...he won't take responsibility for anything!

[DoctorMichael]

I wonder if Chris Matthews will be giving this story as much publicity as he has recently with the DeLay, Frist and Rove stories.

Maybe a pre-internment interview, Chrissy?

[/sarcasm]

[Constitution Day]

Carolina Journal Exclusives:
Ballances Hear Their Sentences

After leaving a federal courthouse in Elizabeth City, Garey Ballance blamed his woes on “a Republican prosecutor and a Republican judge.” Frank Ballance said U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney and assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Duffy exaggerated the severity of his crimes. Both Ballances are Democrats.

“There was some misspent money,” Frank Ballance told reporters yesterday. “That’s all this case was about. There’s never been a grand conspiracy.”

The leader of the state Republican Party said that justice was served with the sentencing.

“It is a shame someone trusted by the people would betray that trust for his own personal gain and the gain of his family members.” said state GOP chairman Ferrell Blount in a statement. “The only silver lining to this episode is that he is no longer in a position of public trust.”

State Democratic Party spokesman Schorr Johnson did not provide a statement on Ballance’s sentencing before the publication deadline for this article.

[cf_river_rat]

said state GOP chairman Ferrell Blount in a statement. “The only silver lining to this episode is that he is no longer in a position of public trust.”

AMEN to that.

I wonder if Chris Matthews will be giving this story as much publicity as he has recently with the DeLay, Frist and Rove stories.

Thanks for checking in here DoctorMichael. Spot On.

[Renderofveils]

“The only silver lining to this episode is that he is no longer in a position of public trust.”

As I recall from the news a couple nights ago, the son will continue to serve in his position as a judge. :/

[reg45]

Where did you find this! It must have been buried in the back of the newspaper near the classified ads for emu ranching. If the congressman had been a Republican, it would be on the first page.

[cf_river_rat]

the son will continue to serve in his position as a judge.

Let's hope not - I don't understand how that can even be legal.

From here: Ballances Hear Their Sentences

Garey Ballance was charged with failure to file a federal income tax return for the year 2000, a misdemeanor that had a maximum punishment of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. He failed to report receiving $20,000 from the foundation as well. He used the money as a down payment on a sports utility vehicle.

His future as a Warren County district court judge is unclear. Running unopposed, he was re-elected to the bench in November 2004. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Garey Ballance could continue as a judge. Shortly after his admission of guilt in March, the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission said it would review his situation.