By Del Quentin Wilber, Friday, January 6, 12:08 PM
Former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. on Friday pleaded guilty to two federal crimes, admitting that he embezzled more than $350,000 in government funds and that he filed false tax returns.
The plea completed a rapid downfall for Thomas, once a powerful figure in D.C. politics and the scion of a well-known District family.
The guilty pleas came about 15 hours after Thomas announced his resignation from the Council and became the first sitting council member to be charged with a felony.
Thomas said little during the hearing, but assured U.S. District Judge John D. Bates that he understood his rights in pleading guilty to theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 3. Under federal guidelines, he faces a sentence of between 36 to 47 months in federal prison. He is free pending sentencing.
Thomas is the first member of the D.C. Council to resign under duress since the District’s home rule government was first seated, in 1975. After months of denying allegations that he stole city funds, the 51-year-old son of a former Ward 5 council member admitted in the District’s federal court that he steered tens of thousands of dollars — intended for youth sports programs — through intermediaries to pay for personal expenses that included an Audi sport-utility vehicle and golf trips.
The probe has its roots in suspicions first leveled during Thomas’s 2010 reelection campaign by his Republican opponent about his fundraising for a nonprofit group he founded. The District’s attorney general at the time, Peter Nickles, initiated a probe of the charity, called Team Thomas. Nickles’s successor, Irvin B. Nathan, first outlined the graft allegations in a civil suit in June; he referred the case to the U.S. attorney’s office for criminal charges.
At the time, Thomas indicated that he had done nothing wrong. “There is no settlement that I would make that would imply that there was some wrongdoing on my part,” Thomas said the day Nathan filed his lawsuit. But about six weeks later, Thomas agreed to a settlement requiring him to repay the city $300,000. He again denied any malfeasance, saying that he settled “to ensure that the trust the public has placed in me is maintained and honored.”
Yet it became clear in recent months that federal authorities were aggressively pursuing Thomas. FBI and IRS agents raided Thomas’s home last month and seized several personal items, including an SUV.
The federal probe came after editorials in The Washington Post on spending practices involving the council member and Team Thomas.
On Thursday, prosecutors filed a four-page charging document that alleges Thomas embezzled $353,500 between April 2007 and February 2009. He is also accused of filing false tax returns in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The charging papers allege that he underreported his income in those years by a total of $346,000. Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of a 2008 motorcycle and a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe connected with the case, according to the charging papers.
Bates Area Civic Association 