NEW YORK (AP) — Former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. will spend five years in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud charges.
Espada was sentenced Friday in Brooklyn.
The once-influential politician also was convicted in a separate case alleging he looted taxpayer-subsidized health clinics.
Espada operated the clinics in the South Bronx for three decades until prosecutors accused him of turning the network into a personal ATM.
Speaking before the sentence was pronounced, Espada offered no signs of remorse. He instead talked about the clinics' history of providing care to poor New Yorkers.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.