Former Cincinnati city council member P.G. Sittenfeld has been found guilty of bribery and attempted extortion, the U.S. Department of Justice announced recently.
Sittenfeld, 37, was convicted July 8 of one count of bribery and one count of "attempted extortion by a government official," according to the DOJ announcement released at the time. The bribery conviction carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison; the extortion conviction, up to 20 years in prison, the DOJ reports.
"Testimony in the trial, which began June 21, included audio and video recordings of Sittenfeld telling undercover agents posing as developers that he could 'deliver the votes' in exchange for contributions to a political action committee he controlled," the DOJ states in the report.
Sittenfeld took a total of $40,000 in campaign contributions - eight $5,000 checks in 2018 and 2019 - in exchange for votes on a pending development project before the council, the DOJ reports; in November 2020, he was indicted by a federal grand jury. The date for Sittenfeld's sentencing has yet to be set, the DOJ reports.
Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in the report that prosecutors "truly appreciate the jurors' time and serious consideration" in the case and acknowledged his office's participation with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in investigating Sittenfeld.
“Democracy requires politicians to uphold their oath with the highest standards of integrity and respect," Parker said in the report. "In this case, we worked alongside the FBI to hold Mr. Sittenfeld accountable for abusing his oath and, ultimately, the trust that the citizens of Cincinnati placed in him.”
FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers said the FBI considers efforts to expose corruption an imperative to maintaining both the "the integrity of our democracy and the trust citizens have in our government institutions," the report records.
“When elected officials choose to commit illegal acts, they greatly damage the relationship between government and the public they were elected to serve,” Rivers said.
