The former chief deputy Nassau County executive was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for obstructing justice.
Richard “Rob” Walker had pleaded guilty at Central Islip federal court in 2019 to obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack Court also ordered Walker to pay $5,000 in forfeiture, imposed a $5,500 fine and perform 2,000 hours of community service as part of his sentence.
“While occupying an important position of public trust, Walker accepted illicit payments from a contractor, encouraged the contractor to commit perjury before a federal grand
jury, and lied to the FBI to cover up his crimes,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
After the former New York State Assemblyman from Hicksville took $5,000 from a county contractor in 2014 and told the contractor to lie to the grand jury about it, Walker met the contractor in a park and gave the $5,000 back, according to investigators. He later denied ever having received the money, authorities said.
Walker served as the top deputy to ex-Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican who was convicted of a kickback scheme in which his indicted restaurateur friend allegedly gave Mangano’s wife a no-show job in exchange for county contracts.
Mangano’s wife, Linda, was convicted of lying to investigators. They have not yet been sentenced. Their co-defendant, ex-Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, was acquitted of federal charges but plead guilty in county court of unrelated corruption charges in 2019 in a deal to avoid jailtime. He died last year.
Walker left his county job when Mangano’s final term ended in 2017 after the ex-exec declined to seek a third term.
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