Prison entrepreneur admits illegal payment
An Alaska half-way house entrepreneur has admitted giving money illegally to a state senate candidate he hoped would get approval for a private prison.
Bill Weimar, who now lives in Montana, appeared Monday in federal court in Anchorage, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Federal prosecutors said Weimar, owner of Allvest Inc., held a contingent interest
in a proposed private prison.
Weimar is the 11th person in a federal investigation into corruption in Alaska. U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who was indicted recently on charges he took illegal gifts from an oil company, is the most prominent defendant.
Weimar faces 10 to 16 months in federal prison. He admitted paying $20,000 to a candidate, a donation not made through the campaign or reported to election watchdogs.
The state legislator involved with Weimar was not named in court documents. The News said former state Sen. Jerry Ward, an enthusiastic advocate of private prisons, appears to match the allegations. Ward lost his seat in 2002 and then lost again in the Republican primary in 2004.
Copyright 2008 by United Press InternationalUPI-1-20080812-19512900-bc-us-weimar.xml
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