Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PHOENIX (AP) — Former Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi reported to a federal prison in West Virginia on Friday to begin serving a three-year sentence for corruption, money laundering and other convictions.
Renzi previously succeeded in postponing the start of his sentence. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that he must report to the minimum security Federal Correctional Institution by Friday.
Bureau of Prisons spokesman Edmond Ross confirmed Renzi had arrived at the Morgantown, West Virginia, facility.
Meanwhile Friday, attorneys for Renzi filed paperwork asking for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Renzi's convictions last October after his lawyers argued that prosecutors had violated a constitutional clause that grants members of Congress protection for their legislative acts.
Renzi, 56, was convicted of conspiring to use his congressional post to make companies buy his ex-business associate's land so the associate could repay a debt to Renzi.
A federal jury in Tucson convicted Renzi in June 2013 on 17 of 32 counts, including wire fraud, extortion and racketeering.
Prosecutors said Renzi looted a family insurance business to help pay for his 2002 campaign, but he wasn't convicted of illegally using money from the firm.
Jurors did find that he filed a false statement with regulators after failing to use premiums collected from nonprofit groups to buy policies.
Renzi, a Republican, represented Arizona's 1st Congressional District from 2003 to 2009. The sprawling district runs from the Arizona-Utah border to suburban Tucson.
He didn't seek re-election in 2008 while facing the federal charges.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
