Fumo Enters Not Guilty Plea

  

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - February 7, 2007 -- State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges he defrauded taxpayers and a local nonprofit out of more than $2 million, and surrendered more than 200 firearms as a condition of bail.

The powerful Philadelphia Democrat declined comment during several hours at the federal building, when he was arraigned and processed by the FBI and U.S. marshals.

Fumo appeared confident in court, although his jaw twitched at times, as a clerk spent several minutes reading the 139 criminal counts lodged against him.

"Not guilty, your honor," he said, in answer to the charges.

Fumo, 63, later declined to discuss the cache of guns, which prosecutors said he kept at his Philadelphia mansion, his Harrisburg-area farm and at beach homes in New Jersey and Florida.

"We're not going to have any comment on that," said defense lawyer Mark Sheppard.

Fumo sat in court beside his lead defense attorney, Richard A. Sprague, a legendary 81-year-old former city prosecutor who plans a press conference on the indictment on Thursday.

Co-defendant Ruth Arnao, the longtime Fumo friend who ran the nonprofit, the Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

She was accompanied in court by her husband, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chairman Mitchell Rubin. Rubin is not charged, but the 267-page indictment states that he joined Fumo on a 2001 trip to Cuba funded by the nonprofit and was paid for Senate contracts that involved little or no work.

The couple also enjoyed a sailing trip with Fumo at Martha's Vineyard on a yacht owned by the Independence Seaport Museum, the indictment charges.

Arnao, 51, of Philadelphia, obstructed the four-year investigation into Citizens' Alliance by helping delete years worth of e-mails, prosecutors said.

She is charged in 45 counts, including two counts of filing a false tax return for allegedly stating that the group did not engage in political activity. According to the indictment, Fumo ordered the charity to fund election polling, a politically motivated lawsuit against a Senate rival and other partisan efforts.

Arnao's lawyer, Edwin Jacobs Jr. of Atlantic City, N.J., declined comment after the arraignment.

Fumo and Arnao were each released on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. Each was ordered to surrender passports and weapons, standard conditions of bail in federal cases.

Fumo's weaponry include collectibles and very large machine guns, prosecutors said. They will be kept in vaults at two firearms dealers.

Given its complexity, the case is not expected to be tried before the latter half of 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease said Wednesday.

The case has been consolidated with that of the two Senate computer technicians charged with obstruction last year. They allegedly carried out Fumo's demands to systematically destroy e-mails about the Citizens' Alliance.

Fumo, who has served in the Senate since 1978, stepped down this week as the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, as Senate rules require with an indictment. He remains in the Senate.

Fumo has beaten two previous indictments.

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