Environmental manager sentenced to two years in prison for looting county coffers

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http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110210/NEWS01/102100342/Morone-gets-prison-term?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CNEWS

Robert Morone sentenced to two years in prison

1:07 AM, Feb. 10, 2011

Robert Morone left a courtroom Wednesday, surrounded by family and friends saddened by the two-year prison sentence imposed on him by a federal judge.

Nowhere in the group of 20-plus supporters were the public officials or Republican politicos for whom Morone toiled for years, as he encouraged county-contracted trades workers to march in parades and carry campaign literature for candidates. Those individuals, who'd once heaped effusive praise on Morone for his campaign work, distanced themselves from him after his December 2008 arrest for defrauding county taxpayers.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Larimer sentenced Morone, a 54-year-old Gates resident, to two years in federal prison for looting county coffers. snip

In December 2008, Sheriff's Office investigators arrested Morone and 14 Robutrad workers on charges that they stole from county taxpayers by doing jobs unrelated to the county while on the county clock. The workers performed jobs, ranging from carpentry to painting, for friends, family and Republican officials across the county.