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Friday, March 29, 2024
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Williams Staffers Take Plea Deal

Former Sen. Alvin Williams’ two co-conspirators changed their pleas in federal District Court on Wednesday, saying that they would be taking deals that cut down on the number of charges against them.

Williams and two of his staffers – Garry Sprauve and Kim Blackett – were arrested last November after being indicted by a federal grand jury on a variety of territorial corruption, fraud and racketeering charges. After initially pleading not guilty, Williams himself filed a change of plea request in January, asking the court to let him plead guilty to one federal racketeering charge, which has him facing up to 20 years in prison and a potential fine of $250,000.

Sprauve and Blackett followed suit on Wednesday and appeared before District Court Judge Curtis Gomez to discuss the details of their respective plea agreements. Sprauve would be pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy relating to fraudulent claims upon the government for helping Williams solicit a bribe of $10,000, in the form of campaign contributions, from the developers of the Tutu Park Mall wind power generating project.

In exchange for the developer sending Williams 10 checks for $1,000, which were eventually deposited into a noncampaign account, Williams would use “his influence as a senator” to promote the project, attorneys said Wednesday.

During the hearing, it was also said that Sprauve did not report the money as a campaign contribution as required by law, but rather conspired with Williams to hide it in another bank account.

In exchange for pleading guilty, Sprauve faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $1,000 fine. He also waived his right to a trial and an appeal. Sprauve is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20 – but the date could be moved depending on the schedule of his attorney, Dave Cattie, who has another trial around that time.

In the indictment, Blackett was charged with two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses for time she spent on the job doing Williams’ work for the University of Phoenix, from which he was seeking online degrees. Prosecuting attorneys said that Blackett was getting paid under false pretenses and defrauded the government by using legislative and public funds for doing nonlegislative work.

Blackett’s deal has her pleading guilty to one count, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $500 fine.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20 at 9 a.m. in District Court. Blackett was released Wednesday on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

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