ALBANY — A former town supervisor in Greene County who tried to scam the state out of nearly $25,000 for work performed on his family business following the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene will not face any time in prison.
Instead, Kory O’Hara, 45, the town supervisor of Prattsville between 2007 and 2016, was given one year of probation as requested by his defense attorney. He must pay nearly $24,915 in restitution to the state and a $5,000 fine under the sentence imposed Thursday by Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin.
O’Hara pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud in July.
“If the defendant was not an elected official his fraud would warrant punishment. But he was, and as town supervisor, he owed better to the people of Prattsville,” assistant U.S. Attorney Cyrus Rieck told the judge in a memo last month. “If elected officials do not follow our most basic rules of conduct— for instance, do not commit fraud — then no one can be expected to abide by the law. The defendant’s felony conviction will serve as a reminder that no one, elected official or not, is above the law.”
Under federal sentencing guidelines, O’Hara faced the possibility of four to 10 months in prison for his crime. Rieck recommended one to five years of probation. O’Hara had agreed in his guilty plea not to appeal any sentence of 14 months or less.
Prattsville, a town of less than 800…
