Anderson said she would resign from the city council and is scheduled for sentencing on July 29.
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to federal charges of embezzling $7,000 in public funds on May 5 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The second-term city councilor was arrested by federal authorities in December 2024 and signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in April.
At the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston, District Judge Indira Talwani read the charges and explained the defendant’s rights to Fernandes Anderson, confirming that she understood the legal documents.
When the clerk of the court asked whether Anderson pleaded guilty or not guilty, the 46-year-old defendant wept and answered, “Guilty.”
She is scheduled for sentencing on July 29.
Anderson said she would resign from the city council after signing the plea agreement in April.
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After the plea hearing on Monday, she told reporters outside the courthouse that she will complete her transitional plan, and step down before her sentencing.
“District 7 doesn’t deserve not to have a vote in the budget,” she said.
Anderson was elected to the Boston City Council in 2021.
She was the first African immigrant and Muslim-American elected to the Boston City Council, representing District 7, consisting of Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and part of the South End.
She said that she was working on a “District 7 workbook,” entailing every important policy and project in the district.
“From the beginning when I decided that I needed to agree to a plea, I have been planning, so as to make sure that my staff was ok, that my constituents were ok, for this is a softer landing, that my family, my children were secured and ok,” Anderson said.
A Transaction in the Bathroom
According to the indictment, Anderson hired a family member (Staff Member A) to her city councilor office in late 2022, at an annual salary of approximately $65,000.
In November 2022, Anderson emailed a City of Boston employee regarding her hiring of the staff, falsely representing that she and the staff member were not related.
In early May 2023, Anderson told Staff Member A, that she would give the staff member extra pay in the form of a large bonus, but that Staff Member A would have to give a portion of the bonus back to the defendant. Staff Member A agreed to the arrangement.
On May 3, 2023, Anderson sent an email to a City of Boston employee, instructing the employee to process a bonus payment of $13,000 to Staff Member A.
Staff Member A’s bonus was more than twice the total amount of all bonus payments to the city councilor’s other staff combined.
On May 26, 2023, Staff Member A deposited the bonus check. Later, at Anderson’s instructions, the staff member made three separate withdrawals of the money.
On June 9, 2023, Anderson and Staff Member A exchanged texts to arrange a meeting at a bathroom at the Boston City Hall, where Staff Member A would hand approximately $7,000 in cash to the city councilor.
The defendant has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. According to the plea agreement, the prosecutor agreed not to charge her with four other counts of wire fraud.
The U.S. Attorney recommended sentencing the defendant to 12 months and one day of incarceration, 36 months of supervised release, a restitution of $13,000, and a mandatory special assessment of $200.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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