Mariano associate gets three years for bribery

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, March, 2007 | by John Shiffman Inquirer Staff Writer

Philip Chartock, the Philadelphia businessman convicted of bribing former city Councilman Rick Mariano, was sentenced yesterday to three years and four months in prison.

Chartock paid $23,000 worth of Mariano's credit-card bills in return for help with his business, Erie Steel. Those favors included Mariano's voting for tax breaks and intervening with pollution inspectors in 2002 and 2003. Chartock told the FBI he had lent Mariano the money.

"No one believes that these payments were loans - certainly the jury didn't and I don't," U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel said.

Stengel's sentence was about a year less than recommended under the advisory federal sentencing guidelines. It was about two years less...