(Headline USA) The Florida man who pleaded guilty to extorting Rep. Matt Gaetz’s, R-Fla., family last year was sentenced to five years behind bars on Monday.
Stephen Alford, 62, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and confessed to participating in the extortion scheme in which he promised Gaetz’s father he could help Gaetz obtain a presidential pardon amid a sex trafficking investigation if he paid him $25 million, reported Politico.
Alford also told Gaetz’s father he needed the money to rescue Robert Levinson, a CIA operative who disappeared in 2007, from Iran, where he is reportedly being held.
“Alford falsely represented that he will ‘get that pardon’ for (Matt Gaetz) and falsely promised D.G. that Alford would take D.G. ‘by the hand to see the President of the United States,’” the indictment reads.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) September 3, 2021
Federal Judge Casey Rodgers granted Alford credit for the time he has already served, and issued a much lighter sentence than the 14-year maximum he could have faced for the scheme.
This will be the third time Alford is going to prison since 2006.
Matt Gaetz celebrated Alford’s indictment last year and vowed to go after everyone else who was in on the scheme.
Alford was indicted today. Those he was working with to extort me on a pile of lies should be next. pic.twitter.com/7XGGXINGcR
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) August 31, 2021
