Jesse Jackson Jr. could face four years in prison

WASHINGTON — Prosecutors Friday recommended four years in prison for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., following his guilty plea this year on criminal charges that he schemed to spend $ 750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

The government suggested an 18-month sentence for Jackson’s wife, Sandra, who pleaded guilty to filing false joint federal income tax returns that understated the couple’s income.

The government is also recommending that Jackson pay $750,000 in restitution to the campaign, and that Sandra Jackson makes a restitution payment of $168,000.

Because the couple has two children, prosecutors proposed that the sentences be staggered, with Sandra Jackson going first. According to the government, Sandra Jackson could be out of prison in little over a year with credit for satisfactory behavior and required pre-release custody.

Both Jacksons are scheduled to be sentenced on July 3.

Jackson, who had been a Democratic congressman from Illinois from 1995 until he resigned last November, used campaign money to buy items that included a $43,350 gold-plated men’s Rolex watch and $9,587.64 worth of children’s furniture, and his wife spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas.

In Friday’s 45-page sentencing memo, prosecutors urged the judge to take into account the advantages Jackson, the son of the famed civil rights leader, had in his life.

They noted that his yearly salary as a congressman ranged from $133,600 to $174,000, and that his wife’s salary as Chicago alderman was also six figures. The memo also said that Jackson’s campaign paid his wife’s consulting firm $5,000 a month during the time of the conspiracy $340,500 in total. “Before defendant or his wife stole a dime, they received substantial incomes,” the government wrote.