Ex-Fumo aide gets jail time for obstruction

After an emotional, two-hour hearing, a former computer aide to former state Sen. Vince Fumo was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison yesterday for his efforts to obstruct a federal corruption probe.

Leonard Luchko, 52, broke down when he described the moment when federal prosecutors convinced him that Fumo, whom he'd come to regard as a father figure, was corrupt.

"You got through," Luchko said to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Zauzmer, recalling a meeting they'd had in January. "It clicked. This man, Senator Fumo, the man I idolized for being the champion of the little guy, he was lying to me the whole time. He was just a common thief."

In March, a federal jury convicted Fumo and his longtime aide Ruth Arnao of a long list of corruption charges.

Luchko pleaded guilty to erasing computer files and e-mails that the FBI was seeking in the investigation. U.S. District Judge William Yohn said Luchko had been "tenacious in his efforts for a long period of time."

Luchko's planned testimony against Fumo was scrapped after prosecutors discovered in January that he'd been sending e-mails to Fumo and others in the case, and writing blog posts on the trial under a pseudonym.

In the e-mails, Luchko expressed contempt for prosecutors and their case and said he didn't think he'd done anything wrong.

In a particularly troubling e-mail revealed yesterday, Luchko wrote to a another former Fumo aide in September that he'd heard Judge Yohn was ill and added, "I hope that p---k dies."

While he was on the witness stand, Luchko turned to Yohn and apologized for the remark.

"Don't worry about it," Yohn told Luchko. "I'm not at all influenced by that."

Luchko was intensely loyal to Fumo for years, and he said yesterday that they became particularly close after Luchko's father died in February 2004.

Luchko said his view of Fumo changed in a January meeting with prosecutors, when he wondered why Fumo hadn't known about a former secretary who'd been stealing from the office.

Luchko said Assistant U.S. Attorney Zauzmer suggested that Fumo had known, but hadn't acted on the theft because of concern that his own corruption might be revealed. Luchko said he then saw Fumo in a different way.

"It got through," Luchko said. "He was a crook, and I was a criminal."

Luchko and his attorney, James Schwartzman, asked Yohn to consider that Luchko lives with and cares for his 83-year-old mother.

Yohn could have levied a heavy fine, but instead ordered Luchko to pay a relatively modest $3,900.

Luchko was ordered to report to prison on July 8. *