Bush donor reportedly wants to admit guilt

TOLEDO, Ohio, May 11 (UPI) -- Tom Noe, the coin dealer and Republican fundraiser caught up in two Ohio scandals, has told a federal judge he wants to plead guilty.

Noe -- a Bush-Cheney Pioneer, indicating he was a major fundraiser for the ticket -- is charged with advancing $45,000 to contributors to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, to evade laws limiting the amount of individual contributions. While he faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, a guilty plea could mean a lot less time, the Toledo Blade reported.

Noe is also charged in state court with stealing $3 million from the Ohio Workers Compensation Fund. He was given millions of dollars from the fund to invest in rare coins, an unusual move for a state trust fund.

One lawyer told the Blade Noe probably hopes for a short prison term combined with house arrest, the kind of punishment meted out to Martha Stewart.

Ohio state Sen. Marc Dann -- a Democrat who is running for state attorney general -- told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that federal prosecutors have "so much documentary evidence, so many checks and other records, that a first-year prosecutor could win the case."