SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Edward Weidow, Sr., age 67, of Scranton, Pennsylvania was sentenced on October 29, 2020, to serve two years’ probation followed by 100 hours of community service by United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, for making false statements to federal law enforcement officers.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Weidow pled guilty to making false statements to federal investigators in a public corruption investigation involving former Mayor of Scranton, William Courtright. Weidow took cash from vendors and then transferred the cash to former Mayor of Scranton William Courtright. When Weidow was interviewed on January 9, 2019 by the FBI, he denied giving cash to Courtright, when in fact on numerous occasions, he had done so.
On October 2, 2020, Courtright was sentenced to seven years’ incarceration after pleading guilty to multiple public corruption crimes. Courtright was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons to begin his sentence on October 30, 2020.
Courtright’s corrupt activities came to light during a multi-year undercover investigation headed by the FBI. The undercover investigation revealed that the former mayor accepted cash payments from vendors doing business with the city in a pay-to-play scheme.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Olshefski and Michael Consiglio prosecuted the case.
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