Man sentenced for stealing from Bloomberg

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A consultant convicted of stealing campaign funds from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sentenced Monday to up to four years in prison.

John Haggerty, owner of Special Election Operations, stole $900,000 from a donation that Bloomberg made to the Independence Party in 2009 and used it to purchase his brother's share of his childhood home in the borough of Queens, prosecutors said.

Haggerty was convicted of grand larceny and money laundering, the New York Daily News reported.

The money Haggerty took was supposed to be used for an election voting-security operation, prosecutors said.

Justice Ronald Zweibel dismissed pleas for leniency and said probation was not enough.

He sentenced Haggerty to one and a third to four years in state prison. Haggerty will also be expected to pay back the full amount he stole from Bloomberg. He will likely have to sell his childhood home, valued at $1.6 million.