2d Fumo aide appears ready to plead guilty

Mark Eister, charged with five felony counts related to State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's coming federal corruption trial, appears ready to plead guilty to some or all of the charges against him.

Sources familiar with the case said Eister, a former computer technician for Fumo, would plead guilty during a change-of-plea hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge William H. Yohn Jr. Eister, 38, of Camp Hill near Harrisburg, has also agreed to testify against the senator in exchange for a promise from federal prosecutors that they will not seek more than a two-year prison term.

Eister had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include four counts of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy for allegedly erasing e-mails that dealt with the federal investigation of the powerful Democratic lawmaker.

Patricia Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined yesterday to say whether Eister had agreed to testify against Fumo.

The U.S. attorneys involved in the case would have no comment, she added.

Eister's lawyer, Brian McMonagle, also declined to comment.

Fumo's lead defense attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, was not available to comment about Eister's apparent change of plea.

Should Eister plead guilty and agree to testify, he would become the second of Fumo's codefendants to do so.

Leonard P. Luchko, who worked in Fumo's South Philadelphia office, has already agreed to testify in the case. He is expected to tell the court at trial that Fumo ordered him to delete large numbers of e-mails that federal agents sought. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed not to seek more than a two-year prison term for Luchko.

The charges against Eister and Luchko date to 2003, when the FBI and the IRS began investigating whether Fumo had used his public office and a nonprofit neighborhood group for personal gain.

Luchko, 52, of Collingdale, was manager of computer services for Fumo and more than 20 of the senator's aides and contractors, including Eister.

In his guilty plea, entered Monday before Yohn, Luchko said Fumo had ordered him to destroy all potentially incriminating evidence related to the corruption charges. He said he and another computer technician deleted all the e-mails sent before 2005 that were stored on office computers that Fumo and his staff used, as well as on the computers of Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit funded with millions of dollars through Fumo's efforts. Ruth Arnao, a longtime legislative aide to Fumo, headed the nonprofit.

Yohn scheduled Luchko's sentencing for Nov. 19 but acknowledged that it would likely be continued because of Fumo's trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 and last three to four months.

Fumo is accused of using his state Senate office and staff and Citizens Alliance and its employees and money for personal and political gain. He is also charged with staging a cover-up to obstruct the FBI and IRS investigations.

Arnao, 51, is the only other codefendant in the case.