Ex-California Rep. Hunter receives 11 months in prison

SAN DIEGO — Former California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced Tuesday to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party.

The ex-Marine’s attorneys had asked for most or part of his sentence be spent in home confinement, citing his military service fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his nearly six terms in Congress. Hunter, 43, resigned from Congress in January after representing one of Southern California’s last solidly Republican districts.

But U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan said given the amount of money Hunter misspent and the number of years he carried out the pilfering, home confinement was not an option.

Prosecutors ahead of Tuesday’s sentencing submitted 87 pages to the judge that showed a corrupt congressman who intentionally and repeatedly stole from his campaign funds for a decade.

“Today’s sentence reinforces the notion that the truth still matters, that facts still matter,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Halpern said after the hearing.

Hunter’s attorney, Devin Burstein, said the fact that Hunter was sentenced to less than a year instead of the 14 months prosecutors sought was because of his “years of service and dedication to our country.”

“Congressman Hunter is ready to put this behind him and to continue helping veterans in every way possible,” Burstein wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Hunter and his wife, Margaret, who was his campaign manager, were accused in a 60-count indictment of stealing more than $250,000 in campaign funds and trying to hide it on financial disclosure records, listing some personal expenses as contributions to wounded warriors.