Former City Employee John McDaniel Sentenced on Fraud Charge

PHILADELPHIA—Former Philadelphia city employee John D. McDaniel, 39, of Philadelphia, was sentenced today to 12 months and one day in prison for a wire fraud charge connected to the theft of $100,000 from a campaign/political committee. McDaniel, the former treasurer of the campaign/political committee for a Philadelphia city councilperson, was 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 2009 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 and from which he then took stolen funds. McDaniel concealed the theft by filing false and incomplete campaign finance reports.

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