Feb 7, 2007 7:32 pm US/Eastern
Senator Fumo Pleads 'Not Guilty'
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
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Sen. Vincent Fumo (file)
CBS
State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges he used state workers and a nonprofit group for his personal and political benefit, and surrendered more than 200 firearms as a condition of his bail.
Fumo declined to comment as he entered the federal building. His lawyer, Richard A. Sprague, scheduled a news conference for Thursday.
Fumo was released on a $100,000 bond after agreeing to surrender more than 200 weapons -- including collectible firearms and very large machine guns -- from his various homes. They will be kept in vaults at two firearms dealers, prosecutors said.
A 141-count indictment handed up Tuesday alleges that Fumo, 63, regularly deployed state workers to perform a litany of personal chores, from overseeing construction at his 33-room Philadelphia mansion to spying on his ex-wife to working his 100-acre farm near Harrisburg.
Fumo, one of the most powerful figures in Pennsylvania politics, misused $1 million in state resources and another $1 million from the nonprofit neighborhood group he controlled, according to the 267-page indictment.
The Philadelphia Democrat, who has served in the Senate since 1978, was also charged with obstruction for ordering his staff to destroy years worth of e-mails from government computers.
The allegations come more than four years after federal authorities began investigating the Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a group started by Fumo aides in 1991 to serve the South Philadelphia community where he grew up.
The indictment also charges Ruth Arnao, executive director of the Citizens' Alliance, and two Senate computer technicians with obstruction and other counts.
Arnao also pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was released on bond.
Fumo, anticipating the indictment on Monday, temporarily stepped down as the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee but remains in the Senate.
He has beaten two previous indictments.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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