FirstEnergy Bribery Lands Ex-Ohio Speaker 20-Year Sentence (1)

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) to 20 years in federal prison, the maximum allowed under the law, for orchestrating a $60 million bribery scheme involving the utility FirstEnergy Corp.

Senior US District Judge Timothy S. Black excoriated the former elected official during the hearing, which lasted more than 90 minutes in a federal courtroom in Cincinnati.

“Bottom line, you were a bully with a lust for power who thought they were above everyone else,” Black told Householder.

After announcing the sentence, the judge had the US Marshals Service take Householder into custody. ...