The former politician was sentenced to 2 1/2 years behind bars after pleading guilty to bribing election workers to stuff ballot boxes in South Philadelphia local elections.
By Jeremy Roebuck, Philadelphia Inquirer, September 27, 2022
The last time former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers stood before a federal judge to face sentencing in a bribery case, Ronald Reagan was president, and Abscam — the 1970s scandal that sent Myers and a host of other elected officials to prison — dominated newspaper headlines.
The South Philadelphia politician emerged from the New York courtroom brimming with confidence that his conviction would be overturned on appeal.
But as the now 79-year-old found himself facing a similar predicament Tuesday — this time awaiting punishment for a separate bribery scheme involving ballot-stuffing in local elections — he didn’t emerge from the courthouse at all.
Saying he had little confidence Myers had learned anything in the four decades between his convictions, U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond sentenced the former congressman to 2½ years in prison and ordered him hauled off to prison immediately — a decision that hit the courtroom like a bomb.
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