Ron Calderon Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison

Friday, October 21, 2016 | 0

Former California state senator Ron Calderon was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Friday, according to media reports.

Ron Calderon

Federal prosecutors requested a five-year sentence for the lawmaker who pleaded guilty to mail fraud in June. Calderon, D-Montebello, admitted to accepting $30,000 in bribes from Michael D. Drobot, former owner of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, in exchange for defeating legislative efforts to repeal the pass-through payment on spinal hardware used in workers’ compensation surgeries.

The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. District Judge Christina Synder said the requested five-year sentence was too harsh, but that a lengthy prison sentence was still appropriate in the case. The newspaper also reported the judge said she was tempted to extend the 42-month sentence because Calderon did not accept responsibility for what he did when addressing the court on Friday.

Calderon’s brother, former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon, D-Montebello, was sentenced to 12 months — including six months under house arrest — in September after pleading guilty to laundering bribes through a political action committee.

Drobot, who pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to doctors who referred work comp patients to his hospital and to conspiring to defraud a federal health care program, faces up to 10 years in prison at a February sentencing hearing.