Former Treasurer of a City Council Campaign Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge

PHILADELPHIA—Former Philadelphia City employee John D. McDaniel, 39, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud for allegedly stealing $100,000 from a campaign/political committee. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 14, 2013. McDaniel, the former treasurer of the campaign/political committee for a Philadelphia City Councilperson, was recently fired from his city-paid airport job after the city Board of Ethics identified numerous reporting irregularities by McDaniel in the campaign’s required city filings.

Between 2010 and 2011, McDaniel used several methods to routinely and, at times, without authorization, withdraw funds from the committee account, which funds he then used for his own purposes and other purposes. At times, McDaniel wrote and cashed checks to himself and wrote checks to Progressive Agenda, a political action committee which he controlled, from which he then took stolen funds. McDaniel concealed the theft by filing false and incomplete campaign finance reports.

McDaniel faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, five years’ supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul L. Gray.