SOUTH CAROLINA COUNTY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN SENTENCED ON PUBLIC CORRUPTION CONVICTION

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The former chairman of the Orangeburg County Council, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour to 12 months and one day in prison, a $5,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney of the District of South Carolina and Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division announced today.

John H. Rickenbacker, 54, previously pleaded guilty to one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of extortion under color of official right.

Rickenbacker, who was elected to the Orangeburg County Council and later succeeded to the position of Chairman of the Council, admitted that he received bribes totaling $50,000 between December 2005 and May 2006.  According to the indictment and the factual statement, the payments were made by an undercover FBI agent posing as a consultant to a company interested in acquiring the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties.  In exchange for the money, Rickenbacker agreed to provide the undercover FBI agent with a copy of a valuation report analyzing the financial condition of the hospital.  The report was being prepared at the request of the Orangeburg County Council and would assist the company as it prepared to bid on the hospital. According to the indictment, Rickenbacker also agreed to provide the necessary political support to get the sale approved by the Orangeburg County Council.

Rickenbacker acknowledged that $19,000 of the $50,000 received from the undercover agent had previously been recouped by the government.   At the plea hearing, Rickenbacker tendered a check for the remaining $31,000 of the illegal payments he received.

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI and South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, and is assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston D. Holliday, Jr., of the Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution.  The case is being prosecuted jointly by trial attorney Eileen Gleason of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, headed by Chief William M. Welch II.

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