David Moffa , the Middlebury man who was one of eight people convicted of taking part in a scheme to conceal the source of $27,500 in conributions to the Congressional campaign of former State House Speaker Chris Donvan, has been sentenced to two years in prison, followed by a year of supervised release .The money was tied to an effort to kill legislation that would have raised taxes on roll -your-own tobacco businesses.
The investigation revealed Moffa, along with Paul Rogers and George Tirado co-owners of two roll-your-own smoke shops in Waterbury and others engaged in a scheme to recruited multiple individuals to serve as conduit contributors to the Donovan campaign. The indivduals allowed checks to be written in their own names to the campaign and conspirators reimbursed them with cash, hiding the donations source.
Moffa pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and impeding the Commision’s enforcement of federal campaign finance laws.
Donovan has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing.
