Maryland Woman Gets Prison For Federal Contracting Scheme

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former worker with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has been sentenced to prison for her role in a scheme that traded nonpublic information for sports tickets and other bribes.

WTOP-FM reports 57-year-old LaFonda Lewis, of Maryland, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in prison. Lewis pleaded guilty in January to trading nonpublic information about pending contracts to a Maryland business owner for bribes totaling about $23,000.

The business owner, 45-year-old Charles Thomas, pleaded guilty in May and is awaiting sentencing. Another HUD employee, 58-year-old Kevin Jones, pleaded guilty last month to a similar scheme involving Thomas and is set to be sentenced in June.

Lewis was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit the value of the bribes.

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