July 11, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Former IBEW Local 98 leader John Dougherty, pictured above in 2016, was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday for federal bribery and embezzlement convictions.
John Dougherty, the powerful former boss of Philadelphia's electrical workers union, was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison on federal bribery and embezzlement convictions.
The sentence was handed down at the Reading federal courthouse by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl, who heard testimony from prosecutors as well as Dougherty and his legal team. The judge gave Dougherty until Sept. 4 to report to prison.
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Dougherty's commanding presence in city politics and organized labor spanned decades before a series of federal indictments detailed a history of bribery and misuse of funds as business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98. Thursday's sentencing covers two of the three cases that were brought against Dougherty since his indictment in 2019.
Federal prosecutors had sought a longer sentence for Dougherty in the range of 11 to 14 years, along with a requirement to pay as much as $2.25 million in fines, including restitution to Local 98. Schmehl ordered Dougherty to make an initial $50,000 payment in restitution to IBEW Local 98 and said the full amount owed would be decided at a later date. Dougherty also must serve three years of supervised release and complete 100 hours of community service when he gets out of prison.
Dougherty's attorney, Greg Pagano, asked for leniency from the judge by appealing to Dougherty's charismatic service to the union, his family and the city over the years. In court documents and during testimony on Thursday, Dougherty's team argued that he was a champion of labor and that he she should be spared due to his longterm role as a caretaker for his wife, whose medical condition requires around-the-clock care.
Friends and supporters of Dougherty, nicknamed Johnny Doc, filled the courtroom for Thursday's hearing. His attorneys submitted more than 200 letters of support, including from former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and City Councilmember Mark Squilla.
Dougherty was found guilty on bribery charges in 2021 along with former City Councilmember Bobby Henon. Prosecutors said Dougherty, 64, effectively bought Henon's vote by supplying him with a salary, benefits, tickets to Eagles games and other perks. Henon was accused of carrying out Dougherty's personal, professional and financial agendas in the public sphere, often to help steer construction contracts to allies and away from rivals. Dougherty resigned from the union after his conviction, resulting in an exodus of leaders who worked under him during the nearly 30 years he held sway.
In December, Dougherty also was found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000 in Local 98 funds to cover a wide range of personal expenses. Prosecutors said he raided the union's coffers for clothing, concert tickets, pet food, home renovations and recreational travel by disguising the theft as business-related expenditures.
The third federal case against Dougherty ended in a mistrial in April. He and his nephew, Greg Fiocca, were accused of threatening a contractor during the construction of Live! Casino in South Philadelphia. The case revolved around the pair's alleged retaliation against a contractor over a payment dispute. Fiocca was accused of assaulting a contractor. Dougherty allegedly threatened to pull all of the Local 98 workers from the job and said he would use his influence to prevent the contractor from getting future jobs in the area.
"John Dougherty held himself out as Local 98's biggest booster," Jacqueline C. Romero, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said Thursday. "But while he was backslapping his electricians with one hand, he was ripping them off with the other. He cheated Philadelphians, too, through his corrupt quid pro quo with Bobby Henon. Our city and its workers deserve so much better than union bosses and politicians whose true priority is looking out for number one."
Schmehl previously sentenced Henon to 3 1/2 years in prison in the bribery case. Dougherty's co-defendant in the embezzlement case, former union president Brian Burrows, was sentenced last month to four years in federal prison and was required to pay $100,000 in forfeiture in addition to restitution to the union.
Dougherty, who maintained his innocence through years of court proceedings and did not testify during his trials, told the judge Thursday he takes "full responsibility" for the crimes he committed.
