A judge on Thursday sentenced Former Cincinnati City Council Member Jeff Pastor to two years in prison and three years of supervised release.
Pastor was convicted in June on a corruption charge authorities described as a bribery scheme involving payoffs in exchange for help with city development projects. Pastor pleaded guilty to accepting $15,000 in exchange for votes as a member of Council.
He was arrested by the FBI in November 2020, and accused of wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, attempted extortion and conspiracy. The government says Pastor took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and other gifts from undercover agents posing as developers.
From the archives: Why the 'culture of corruption' at Cincinnati City Hall?
That year, Pastor wasn't the only council member arrested on such charges. Over the space of 10 months in 2020, three City Council members — Democrat Tamaya Dennard, Republican Pastor, and Democrat and then-mayoral frontrunner P.G. Sittenfeld — had been arrested by federal agents and charged with felonies that centered around taking bribes from developers with business before City Council.
