Ex-judge guilty in traffic-ticket fixing

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PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A retired Philadelphia judge was the first to plead guilty to fixing traffic tickets in what prosecutors say is a rampant corruption practice in the city.

H. Warren Hogeland, 75, formerly of the Philadelphia Traffic Court, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy and mail fraud, acknowledging his routinely dismissed traffic tickets, reduced fines or acquitted offenders at the request of fellow judges from 2009 to 2011.

Prosecutors cited a 2010 example where Hogeland dismissed a $150 speeding ticket issued to the son of Kenneth Miller, a fellow Traffic Court judge.

He is among 12 people, including nine former or current judges, charged after a three-year federal investigation of city traffic court corruption, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.

Hogeland, a former police officer who retired from the judge's bench in 2006, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly to return May 24 for sentencing.