Ex-Lawrence Official Gets 18-Month Jail Sentence For Corruption

The former chief of staff to the ex-mayor of Lawrence has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for corruption.

Leonard Degnan, who worked for ex-Mayor William Lantigua, was also sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Degnan, a former interim mayor and a city councilor, was also barred from running for public office.

He was found guilty Monday of bribery, conspiracy, soliciting a bribe and unlawful use of official position for pressuring a city vendor to donate a trash truck to a town in Lantigua's native Dominican Republic. Degnan allegedly threatened to void the vendor's contract "without cause" if the garbage truck wasn't donated.

He was acquitted of extortion.

Degnan asked for leniency, saying he has "lived a good life."