Former Jefferson County, Ala. commissioner sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy, bribery

Jefferson County, Ala. ex-commissioner sentenced

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A former commissioner of Alabama’s most populous county has been sentenced to prison on conspiracy and bribery convictions stemming from a sewer construction project that later soured and left the county on the verge of bankruptcy.

Former Jefferson County Commissioner Gary White was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday. U.S. District Court Judge Scott Coogler also ordered White to pay $22,000 in restitution and forfeit a similar amount to the federal government. His attorney promised an appeal.

White, convicted in 2008, was among multiple officials sentenced in the bribery scandal surrounding the $3.2 billion sewer upgrade.

The sewer debt financing turned sour, for reasons unrelated to the bribery case, and plunged the county into fiscal crisis.