Former Sen. Kennedy staffer convicted of stealing from Senate

Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) former office manager was convicted on Tuesday of stealing more than $75,000 from the Senate.

Ngozi Pole was found guilty on five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government property. For at least 4 years, Pole submitted fraudulent paperwork that caused the Senate to pay him larger bonus payments than either Kennedy or his chief of staff had approved, according to the Justice Department.

Pole tried to hide the paper trail of these unauthorized payments by “repeatedly transmitting information to the chief of staff that falsely showed that he received only those payments that had been authorized.”

The Maryland resident faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for each of the fraud charges and up to 10 years in prison for the theft of government property charge.

“Employees of Congress are entrusted with performing their duties honestly and ethically,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer of the Justice Department’s criminal division.  

“While hundreds of them live up to that important duty every day, we will, as today’s verdict shows, hold accountable those few who use their positions to illegally enrich themselves.”

---