HUNTER TO SERVE SENTENCE AT TEXAS PRISON CAMP
Ex-congressman to report for 11-month term in January
Former Rep. Duncan Hunter will ser ve his 11month sentence f or conspiring to misuse campaig n funds at a West Texas prison camp, his attorney said Friday.
Hunter is due to repor t to Federal Correctional Institute L a Tuna on Jan. 4. The prison is in the El Paso suburb of Anthony, on the
Texas-New Mexico state line. He will ser ve his time in its adjacent minimumsecurity satellite camp, according to CQ-Roll Call.
Hunter ’s attorney, Devin Burstein, on Friday conf irmed the repor t that Hunter had been assig ned to the facility.
Hunter fought a 60count indictment for more than a year before pleading g uilty to a conspiracy charge in December.
His wife, Margaret Hunter, pleaded g uilty in June 2019 of conspiring with her husband to misuse more than $250,000 in campaign money on personal expenses such as travel, g roceries, fast food and private school tuition.
Alan Ellis, a defense attorney who writes the Federal Prison Guidebook, told Roll Call he suspects Hunter is being sent to a facility 10 hours away to get him away from his sphere of inf luence — something he said is common for highprof ile prisoners.
FCI L a Tuna also is where former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is ser ving a three-year sentence for obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
Hunter ’s criminal charges i n Aug ust 2018 came more than two years af ter the Federal Election Commission and The San Diego Union-Tribune questioned Hunter in April 2016 about expenditures his campaign had repor ted — a series of video-game purchases and a payment to his children’s private school.
According to the indictment, the Hunters relied for years on campaign contributions to pay routine family expenses like dental bills, home repairs and fast-food meals. They also used it for exotic vacations, private-school tuition, plane tickets for Margaret’s mother to and from Poland, and for f lights for a pet rabbit.
Immediately af ter the indictment, Hunter said the charges were the result of a “deep state” conspiracy among “partisan Democrat prosecutors” and denied any wrongdoing. He continued denying the charges af ter his wife pleaded g uilty and ag reed to work with prosecutors.
Then, in December, Hunter decided to plead g uilty in order to spare his children the spectacle of a trial, he said. Initially he was scheduled to beg in ser ving his time in May but that was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hunter lef t Cong ress in January and his seat in the 50th District has been vacant since. Former Republican Cong ressman Darrel Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar are in a tight race to replace him.