Lobbyist pleads guilty to destroying evidence

A lobbyist and good friend of former Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) plead guilty Friday to destruction of evidence charges related to a federal probe of the ex-lawmaker, the Justice Department announced.

Cecilia Grimes, 43, a partner in a Pennsylvania-based lobbying firm, was charged with throwing her Blackberry in a trash can near an Arby’s fast food restaurant after talking with federal agents about her firm’s contacts with Weldon.

{mosads}The indictment alleged that she disposed of the Blackberry “for the purpose of keeping the FBI from reviewing certain of her e-mails.”

She faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Evidence presented at the plea hearing and in the indictment revealed that within six days of the FBI's service of the two grand-jury subpoenas, Grimes also discarded grand jury subpoenas, Amtrak receipts, airline boarding passes and RSVP cards for a dinner honoring Weldon that listed her as the contact for responses. The FBI found the items thrown out in garbage bags at Grimes’s home.

Grimes worked as a registered lobbyist for a firm that submitted requests for appropriations to Weldon’s office. In 2006, the FBI opened an investigation into whether Weldon agreed to support appropriations request made by Grimes’s firm in return for the payment of fees to the firm by its clients.

Grimes has been employed by several firms, including Grimes and Young, a joint venture with Cynthia Young, the daughter-in-law of Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), a former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

In October 2006, a month before the election, newspapers revealed that Weldon was under federal investigation for allegedly helping his daughter, Karen Weldon, obtain lucrative lobbying contracts from foreign businesses. He lost his reelection that year to Democrat Joe Sestak. The news leaked after the FBI raided the homes of his daughter and her business partner, Charles Sexton Jr.

Weldon's former chief of staff, Russell Caso, Jr., pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to commit honest-services fraud. His sentence has been postponed while he cooperates with prosecutors.