Ex-Lawmaker Gets 6-Month Term for Fraud Conspiracy

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Joseph P. Kolter (D-Pa.) was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for conspiring to defraud taxpayers in the House post office scandal.

Kolter, 69, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to trade government-purchased postage stamps and vouchers for personal cash.

U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson said she will recommend the sentence be served at a prison hospital in Rochester, Minn. Johnson freed him pending availability of a space at that facility.

Kolter has undergone surgery for prostate cancer, suffers cardiac problems and receives treatment for diabetes, hypertension, early cataract formation and severe depression. Kolter also was fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $9,300 in restitution. He will be required to pay the costs of his incarceration, estimated at $1,700 a month--far less than his congressional pension, prosecutors noted.