Twice-convicted Democratic operative John Raphael will serve six months in federal prison for a food service bribery scheme that began a decade ago after a U.S. District Court judge in Columbus convicted him Tuesday by order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson originally sentenced Raphael to 18 months house arrest and no jail time in August 2021 for his conviction involving his role in a bribery scheme for a food services contract at Greater Columbus. Convention Center. Raphael was a member of the board of directors of the Franklin County Facilities Authority, which oversees the convention center and the Nationwide Arena.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio had appealed Watson’s conviction to the 6th United States Circuit Court, which overturned the sentence and ordered Watson to reprimand Raphael.
While Tuesday’s six-month sentence was longer than the zero jail term Watson had previously ordered, it was still well short of the 41-51 months advised by federal sentencing guidelines, designed to inflict similar sentences for similar crimes. And the lead federal prosecutor said the U.S. attorney’s office reserves the right to appeal again.
Watson said he was convicting an individual, not a statistic, and that the federal guidelines did not take sufficient account of age, medical conditions and the seemingly low risk of him reoffending in the future.
The lead federal prosecutor in the case, Peter K. Glenn-Applegate, continued to ask Watson during the sentencing hearing to impose a prison term within the guidelines of 41 to 51 months. . Glenn-Applegate told Watson at the end of Tuesday’s hearing that his office would again reserve the right to challenge his six-month sentence as insufficient.
Raphael, a former influential Democratic lobbyist with close ties to former Mayor Michael B. Coleman, current Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and other Franklin County Democrats, sat expressionless in a dark blue suit, hands joined on the defense table in front of him. for most of the approximately 90-minute hearing at the federal courthouse in downtown Columbus.
Neither he nor his attorney, Roger P. Sugarman, made a comment as they left the courtroom. Raphael has 45 days before receiving notice of when and where to report to jail to begin serving his sentence. Watson also ordered him to serve two years of supervised release after prison and ordered Raphael to repay the Convention Center $28,251.
While a member of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Raphael secretly hired a national food supplier, Centerplate, as a lobbying client in 2013 for $5,000 a month. The goal: to help Centerplate land public catering contracts in Columbus, with a $40,000 “success fee” if it wins the convention center’s exclusive catering contract. Raphael raised $144,000 in total.
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s 20-year bribery sentence came up repeatedly during Raphael’s sentencing hearing. While technically Raphael was also facing a 20-year maximum, Watson remarked, “Rarely have I seen an individual get the legal maximum, as Mr. Householder did.”
Raphael has already served the 18 months of house arrest at his Clintonville home, which Watson ordered in 2021 for the Centerplate sentencing.
The lead federal prosecutor in the case, Peter K. Glenn-Applegate, continued to ask Watson during the sentencing hearing to impose a prison term within 41 to 51 months, noting that Raphael has admitted in a signed plea agreement that he accepted the six – a bribe from a company that wanted his illegal help in securing a contract to sell food at the convention center.
There was no doubt Raphael had accepted the bribe and delivered it, Glenn-Applegate told Watson.
When the company asked for favorable changes to the “request for proposals” and the final contract, Raphael did so as a member of the board of directors of the establishment authority – without ever disclosing to the board that he was paid by the company he ran. working at.
“And most improperly, Mr. Raphael tried to cover it up,” Glenn-Applegate told the court. Following his plea deal, Raphael repeatedly made statements downplaying his role in the scandal, saying he told food vendor Centerplate that he couldn’t help them secure contracts with the Convention Center.
“Mr. Raphael cannot plead guilty and then deny material facts,” Glenn-Applegate said, noting that this was Raphael’s second public corruption conviction. He pleaded guilty in October 2015 in the Redflex case and was convicted in June 2016 of accepting bribes intended for local Columbus Democats campaign funds from a red-light traffic camera company, Redflex. . Raphaël served 15 months in federal prison for this scandal.
Glenn-Applegate noted that Raphael sent Centerplate an invoice for $40,000, specifying that it was the “success fee” for the convention center contract, after he successfully awarded the public contract to the business.
“It’s a serious offence, there’s no doubt about it,” Watson said after Glenn-Applegate’s arguments on Tuesday. Raphael abused his position of public trust, failed to disclose material facts to his board of directors, provided confidential documents to his client, and obstructed an Ohio Ethics Commission investigation with false documents, the judge noted.
But Raphael never voted on the final contract, Watson said. The judge said it is also “important to remember that these (food service contract) acts predate the Redflex violations,” which occurred chronologically after the Centerplate contract.
Watson later noted that it wasn’t like Raphael would continue to take bribes after being prosecuted the first time around, and he was unlikely to break the law again.
“So he’s not someone who continues to act after his last conviction,” Watson said, not seeing the need for longer incarceration to protect Raphael’s public or deter him from future crimes.
In April, a three-judge appeals panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit blasted Watson for statements he made during his previous conviction of Raphael and ordered him to do so again. in a manner consistent with the case law governing the factors it might consider. , and that he could not.
For a sentence to be reasonable, a judge must explain how it “fits Congress’ view of crime,” and the first round did not do that, the panel wrote.
“Here, because the district court provided no explanation (for the deviation from the guidelines), the sentence it imposed was materially unreasonable,” the appeals court wrote.
The appeals court also said several of Watson’s pre-sentencing comments were concerning – particularly his stated familiarity with Raphael and his family.
Watson said at the time: “We grew up in the same headquarters. I know you, I know your family members.” He said he knew Raphael had “lost your mother. You lost your brother. You lost your business. You lost your reputation.” The judge called the bribery scheme, which raised $144,000 for Raphael, a “dumb attempt” to make money.
The Raphael-led contract was worth up to $11.22 million over seven years to the company paying the kickbacks, court records show.
Watson said today he had never relied on impermissible factors such as personal or familiar connections in handing down either sentence. “I thought it was obvious,” Judge said.
Glenn-Applegate declined to comment on The Dispatch after the hearing.
wbush@gannett.com
@ReportBush
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: John Raphael sentenced to 6 months in prison for bribery