Crime & Safety
Dean Skelos Sentenced To More Than 4 Years In Prison
His son, Adam, was also sentenced to years behind bars for their scheme to use Dean's influence to get Adam money.
Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican who was once the Majority Leader of the state Senate, was sentenced to 51 months in jail today, ending the fall from grace of one of Long Island's most popular politicians.
Skelos, 70, and his son Adam, 36, both of Rockville Centre, were convicted in July on bribery, extortion and conspiracy charges. Judge Kimba Wood sentenced Skelos to four years and three months in jail, according to Newsday. She said she would have only sentenced Skelos to four years, but thought the testimony he gave during his trial was full of “falsehoods, irrelevancies and mischaracterizations," and that there needed to be consequences for that, Newsday reported.
Later in the day, Adam Skelos was sentenced to four years in prison.
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In addition to the prison time, Skelos will also have to pay a $500,000 fine.
The sentence is less harsh than what was handed down to Skelos at his original sentencing in 2016, before he appealed his case. Then, he was sentenced to five years in prison, and Adam was sentenced to more than six.
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The two were on trial for corruption for the second time, after their previous conviction from 2015 was overturned on appeal last year. The appeal was successful due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that changed and narrowed the definition of what constitutes public corruption.
Skelos arranged a job for his son at Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers in Roslyn, but Adam rarely showed up. Later, Skelos influenced Glenwood Management to give Adam a $20,000 payment without Adam having done any work for the company.
Adam also did work for the Arizona-based company AbTech, which won a $12 million grant from Nassau County for floodwater mitigation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Skelos pressured the county to let AbTech get to work more quickly so the company -- and by extension, his son -- could start getting paid.
All together, prosecutors say that Skelos used his influence to get nearly $300,000 for his son.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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