Former Santa Clara County supervisor sentenced to year in jail after corruption conviction
SAN JOSE, California — A former Santa Clara County supervisor has been sentenced to a year in jail after being convicted of corruption and misuse of public funds.
The San Jose Mercury News reports (http://bit.ly/HNbClx ) that 51-year-old George Shirakawa Jr. was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to 12 charges, including gambling with public funds.
He will also serve three-years of probation following his jail time.
Shirakawa acknowledged filing inaccurate expense reports and using his county-issued credit card to support his gambling, which he called an addiction.
Prosecutors said Shirakawa moved $130,000 from campaign accounts to casinos in Las Vegas and Southern California.
In all, prosecutors said Shirakawa's misdeeds cost taxpayers about $2.7 million.
Shirakawa faces another separate felony charge of illegal campaigning. If he's found guilty, his jail sentence could be lengthened.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/a4facaea4b57472f89c241dcd33bff9a/CA--Supervisors-Expenses
Former Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. sentenced to one year in jail
SAN JOSE -- George Shirakawa Jr. gambled with his power and prestige -- and on Friday, long after his luck ran out, he lost: The fallen Santa Clara County politician was sentenced to a year in jail.
In a stunning scene that brought shame to a once-proud East San Jose political family, two sheriff's deputies hauled Shirakawa in a pinstriped suit out of a packed courtroom to begin immediately serving the maximum jail term followed by three years' probation. With credit for good behavior, however, the former member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors could be free in six months.
George Shirakawa, left, the disgraced former member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, with his lawyer, John Williams, at his sentencing at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. The sentencing follows his conviction for misuse of public funds and campaign finance irregularities. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News Group) (Patrick Tehan)
"The defendant is not being punished in the court's eyes for gambling," Superior Court Judge Daniel Nishigaya announced after three hours of testimony. "In this case the defendant is being punished for the conduct he engaged in in violating the public trust. This defendant is deserving of the full 12 months in county jail."
While prosecutors presented more evidence of a calculating ruse to spend public money and campaign donations on lavish meals and casinos, the defense described Shirakawa as a desperate, depressed victim of an addiction.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen was clearly pleased that county residents would see the outcome on their evening news.
"He stole from the public, he lied about it, and it went on for years," Rosen said. "Now he's being appropriately punished for his conduct."
Shirakawa, 51, pleaded guilty eight months ago to 12 charges, including corruption, gambling with public funds and duping political donors whose campaign contributions he siphoned off into a secret slush fund. He will likely not serve his time in Santa Clara County, where the former chair of the county's Public Safety and Justice Committee is well-known among crooks and cops. While on probation, he will face more jail time if he gambles, obtains a firearm or fails to attend counseling and support groups.
Shirakawa was almost entirely silent during his sentencing, which followed more than eight months of hearings since his March arrest and resignation from the Board of Supervisors. But in a statement submitted to the court and obtained by this newspaper, Shirakawa described himself as a man who has "lived parallel and conflicting lives." His maternal grandfather -- a legendary card player in the Central Valley -- taught him at age 5 or 6 to play poker and "lo-ball." His extended family has faced "some form of addiction for generations, especially gambling," the statement said.
His life, he said, has been "filled with depression, addiction and service to my community and country." He described his conflicts as "a war inside me" that ultimately "placed me at the edge of ruin."
Shirakawa's attorney John Williams told the judge on Friday that it is important to understand "the sequence of events that have led to this catastrophe," adding that his client "has fallen so far."
He countered the DA's charge that his client was a sophisticated criminal and said that the public glare of his high-profile case is punishment enough.
"What Mr. Shirakawa is facing a life sentence," Williams said, noting he now has no money, no career and a bleak future. "It's a life sentence because of the media coverage. He will forever be, no matter what happens, 'disgraced former Supervisor George Shirakawa.' "
Nineteen people wrote letters to the court, including Shirakawa's sister, daughter and ex-wife, asking for leniency.
But Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu-Towery, who led the Shirakawa prosecution, noted there were only six constituents who supported him -- a paltry number given his decades in public service. Two of his supporters had accepted numerous meals and a costly Washington, D.C., hotel room that Shirakawa paid for, illegally, with his county credit card.
Sinunu-Towery questioned his contrition as well, noting that the supervisor had been gambling throughout March and April of this year, shortly after his arrest. "He tells the public he is better, but in private it's 'lol' and he's back at the table," she said.
County Executive Jeff Smith testified that Shirakawa's behavior cast "a pall over the county and made it look like we were all complicit in crimes."
And some of his former staffers reiterated that point in a videotape of interviews with DA investigators shown in court Friday.
In the video, Shirakawa's District 2 county staff revealed how they reluctantly provided cover for their boss by failing to follow obvious county rules. Birthday parties and holiday celebrations were noted in expense sheets as "staff meetings," and no matter how often they badgered Shirakawa for itemized receipts, he blew them off.
When Sinunu-Towery asked Shirakawa staff member Marisa Ybarra what happened when she asked Shirakawa for the detailed receipts, Ybarra responded: "That nobody needed to know whether he was eating a steak or having a salad."
When Sinunu-Towery asked Shirakawa's former chief of staff, Eddie Garcia, why he never questioned three-day trips that should have taken just one, and how he could not have known about all the casino trips on county time, Garcia responded: "I didn't ask, he didn't tell me."
One Eastside neighborhood activist said he thought Shirakawa should split time behind bars and serving his constituents. "He should be able to look people in the eye while doing community service," said Bob Dolci, who has known Shirakawa for years, and also knew his father, former San Jose City Councilman George Shirakawa Sr.
In the end, Shirakawa's downfall cost county taxpayers more than $2.7 million, officials testified Friday. There were two elections to replace him, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on public records requests from prosecutors and the media.
What's more, the residents of District 2 -- who are the most impoverished and in most need of county public services -- were left with no voice during critical budget hearings, and the appointment of a new county counsel and public defender.
Friday's sentencing won't close the book on Shirakawa's legal troubles. Even after more than eight months of court hearings, the fallen politician's ultimate legal fate remains unresolved.
Next month, Shirakawa will return to court to face an additional felony charge involving illegal campaigning. That outcome of that case, which is being tried separately from the initial set of charges, could lengthen the former supervisor's sentence.
There is little more that can be done to Shirakawa's image, Williams told the court. "He has fallen far."
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_24486296/shirakawa-sentenced-one-year-county-jail
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