A federal judge sentenced former Rep. Duncan Hunter to 11 months in prison for illegal misuse of campaign funds.
The California Republican had pleaded guilty to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds on personal expenses. His lavish misuse of the campaign dollars included a $462 bill for a friend’s bachelor party, $704 worth of tickets to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and $1,528 in video games.
Prosecutors had requested a 14-month prison sentence, but Hunter’s defense argued that it should be limited to 11 months of in-home confinement. In a letter, Hunter’s former Democratic colleague, Rep. Juan Vargas, called on the court to consider Hunter’s military service when issuing the sentence, writing, “Mr. Hunter needs special counseling and treatment after fighting our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The former congressman entered his guilty plea in December but refused to leave office until he officially resigned in January. He has been accused of remaining in office until January in order to add one more year of eligibility to his congressional pension, something Sen. Thom Tillis is hoping to squash with a bill to bar felon lawmakers from collecting from Congress’s pension fund.
The allegations against Hunter first surfaced in 2016, but he managed to win reelection in 2018 to keep his seat. The investigation that followed the allegations uncovered a total of nearly $250,000 in misused funds and several extramarital affairs he had with members of his staff and lobbyists.
Both Hunter and his wife Margaret were ensnared in the investigation. The pair pleaded guilty, and Margaret testified against her husband in the investigation. When he pleaded guilty to the charges, he requested that the judge not severely punish his wife.
“Whatever my time in custody will be, I will take that hit,” Hunter told the judge. “My only hope is that the judge does not sentence my wife to jail. I think my kids need a mom in the home.”
Margaret’s sentencing will take place on April 13. She also faces up to five years in prison.
