@MarcACaputo @PatriciaMazzei
Before David Rivera’s confidante was sentenced in a campaign-finance scheme on Wednesday, a federal judge had some advice from the bench for the former Miami congressman: Act like a man.
“Some people would call it chivalry, some people call it sexism — that the man should come forward and not let the woman do time on his behalf,” said U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, who gave Rivera’s friend, Ana Alliegro, a one-year sentence split between six months she had already spent in jail and six months of house arrest.
Alliegro, who will also be on probation for two years, was released from custody a couple of hours later. She walked out of the downtown federal detention center alone, wearing brown prison garb, and tried to find the way on foot to her defense attorneys’ office.
She wouldn’t talk about Rivera, though she would be the key witness if prosecutors charge the Republican with the same crime. When asked by reporters why she stood by him for so long, Alliegro said: “It’s just the way I am.”
“I’m enjoying the weather, and I’m just looking forward to my future,” she said. “I intend to be a good member of society.”
The judge could have given Alliegro a stiffer sentence but suggested he was being lenient because she wasn’t acting by herself, in “rogue” fashion, and instead was a pawn in what federal prosecutors say was Rivera’s conspiracy.
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