Some Irish eyes are smiling after extortion sentencing

Fred Moran's supporters pulled out all the stops yesterday - including a St. Patrick's Day prayer - in asking a judge to go easy on the embattled Haverford Township commissioner.

Short of an acquittal, they got what they wanted.

Moran, 62, a vice president of the Haverford GOP, was facing jail time after being convicted in November of trying to extort $500,000 from a real-estate developer on the township's behalf.

Friends and family who testified at his sentencing yesterday were determined to keep him out of prison.

Moran's daughter, Kimberly, broke down crying. "Forgive me," she told Judge Harold Thomson, as she regained her composure. "I'm not as strong as my father is."

His wife, Beverly, invoked the family's heritage. "I pray the luck of our Irish ancestors will shine down on our family today, St. Patrick's Day 2008," she said.

And longtime friend John MacMurray blamed the whole ordeal on a misunderstanding caused by Moran's dyslexia-like speech disorder. MacMurray said he calls it "Freddie-speak."

Nonetheless, the Pike County judge said he agreed with the jury's guilty verdict on one count of bribery in official and political matters, a third-degree felony.

But Thomson - who was called in to preside over the case because Moran is a former Delaware County Courthouse employee - sentenced the 4th Ward commissioner to only six months' probation. Under standard sentencing guidelines, he had been facing as much as nine months in prison.

Moran, who did not testify at his trial, said he was only attempting to balance the township's 2006 budget when he asked developer Goldenberg/Pohlig for $500,000 in exchange for expediting the zoning-approval process at the Haverford State Hospital site.

"I was trying to keep the taxes flat," Moran told the judge. "I wasn't trying to hurt anybody."

Goldenberg/Pohlig did not agree to the payment. Even if it had, the money would have gone into the township's treasury - not Moran's pocket.

"That's what commissioners are supposed to do!" argued defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom, who is appealing the conviction.

"That's bribery!" countered Senior Deputy Attorney General E. Marc Costanzo.

After his sentencing, Moran appeared in good spirits but had little to say, other than: "Happy St. Patrick's Day."

He likely will have to step down as commissioner - a seat he has held since 1977 - because Haverford's charter prohibits anyone convicted of a second-degree misdemeanor or higher from sitting on the board. *