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Tom Calderon, the 62-year-old former California Assemblyman who served from 1998 to 2002, was sentenced to one year in federal prison yesterday in federal court in downtown Los Angeles for laundering the bribes of his younger brother, Ron Calderon.

Ron Calderon accepted bribes from Michael Drobot, the former owner of Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, California.  He was indicted for this action, and other actions, in 2014 along with brother Tom for laundering the bribes. 

Drobot was keen on Calderon pushing against legislation that would close the loop hole he used to set-up outside shell companies for supplying spinal hardware marked-up to astronomical prices.  In this manner for at least a decade, Drobot fleeced workers’ compensation claims payers for back surgeries on claimants who lived near and far.

Ron also accepted bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film industry executive.  The bribes were in exchange for advocating tax credits for lower budget films.   He accepted a plea deal for one count of mail fraud.  He will be sentenced next week.    

U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder showed some leniency towards Tom.  With the deal he struck, it was recommended and encouraged by the prosecution that he serve no more than 12 months in prison in relation to the federal sentencing guidelines of 18 to 24 months. But the judge had the discretion to impose even more than that.  

In his guilty plea, Tom admitted that he had allowed bribe money from his brother, Ron, to be funneled through his consulting company, the Calderon Group, in order to conceal that it was bribery money. 

Judge Snyder ordered Tom Calderon to serve only the first half of his sentence in prison, and to be under house arrest for the second half wearing an electronic monitoring device.  She acknowledged Tom’s significant health problems of heart disease and diabetes, which his attorney, Shepard Kopp, pleaded would be difficult to treat in prison outside the care of his physicians.  But the judge expressed that while in sympathy to that real health issue, Tom Calderon still needed to spend some time in prison-- where there will be adequate medical services-- in order to send a message that corruption by public officials is not to be tolerated. 

Joel Rubin's article from the L.A. Times of September 12, 2016: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tom-calderon-sentencing-20160912-snap-story.html

lonce@adjustercom.com