Pennsylvania former treasurer sentenced for lying about payments

HARRISBURG » A woman who was elected four times to statewide office in Pennsylvania was sentenced Tuesday to three years on probation for lying to the FBI about accepting $675,000 from an investment adviser who had reaped tens of millions in fees through Treasury Department business.

Barbara Hafer, a Republican when she was twice elected as Pennsylvania’s auditor general and then twice as treasurer, avoided jail time but was fined $50,000 and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.

“I did it, that was wrong, and I’m sorry for it,” Hafer told U.S. District Judge John Jones, sobbing as she asked him to consider her entire career. “I’m ashamed, I’m heartsick over the situation.”

The 74-year-old pleaded guilty in June to deceiving federal investigators about whether the adviser, Richard Ireland, had funneled the money to her to help her start a consulting firm after she’d left office.

Jones said he considers her offense to be an isolated aberration and “a fit of bad judgment.”

“It doesn’t take a large leap to figure out what went wrong,” Jones said. “I believe that you feared that disclosing your relationship with Mr. Ireland after you left office might demonstrate something that at the worst was illegal and at best was unseemly.”

Her attorney argued that the crime for which Hafer pleaded guilty did not enrich her financially.