Frankie Keough Gets Three Years

Frankie Keough was sentenced to three years yesterday. That's right, three year for swindling an entire agency for nearly a decade.

As one of the best-known public figure caught in a federal corruption dragnet in Springfield, Keough pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, witness tampering and perjury charges linked to his tenure at Friends of the Homeless Inc., which runs two shelters in Springfield.

In an apology moments before Ponsor issued the sentence, Keough expressed a mix of anguish and self-contempt.

"I've asked myself how I arrived in a place like this," said Keough, who was jailed in August 2005 after admitting bail violations. "Quite frankly, I don't have an answer," he added.

After getting dozens of letters in jail from friends and former supporters, Keough, a college football star and former five-term city councilor, said could not bring himself to read them.

"They would just remind me of how grossly I have failed," he said.

It may be the understatement of the decade.

In perhaps the most ridiculous 'legal' basis for a slap on the wrist sentence, Judge Ponser said the following:

Ponsor also expressed concern that Keough's wife and son had struggled during his 20-month absence.

Defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly of Springfield cited an unspecified medical condition of Keough's son, Griffin, while asking that his client be sentenced to home confinement.

Not only did he steal thousands upon millions of dollars from the HOMELESS agency in the city, he resorted to petty theft too, stealing mattresses, TV's, appliances, etc. Who gives leniency to the people whom he stole from?

Only in Springfield...


By the way, on a completely unrelated and utterly random note.... Frankie Keough barrs a striking resemblence to WWE Smackdown! Superstar Fit Finlay:


I'd bet, in a fight, Finlay would win. By a lot.