Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury Sentenced to Five Months in Prison

Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury, a former candidate for U.S. Congress, was sentenced Tuesday to five months in prison for breaking federal campaign finance laws by concealing her hiring of former Gov. John Rowland, according to news accounts, including one from the Hartford Courant.

Rowland and Wilson-Foley’s husband, Brian Foley, were both previously sentenced — Rowland to 30 months in prison, Foley to three months in a halfway house. Rowland has said he will appeal the sentence.

Wilson-Foley, 55, and her husband had each pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws as part of plea agreements with prosecutors.

In sentencing Foley in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Judge Janet Bond Arterton rejected an argument made by Wilson-Foley’s lawyers that prosecutors had reneged on an agreement for a lighter sentence. Prosecutors said her description of events was contradicted by other evidence, the Courant reported.

Arterton dismissed Wilson-Foley’s complaint, saying prosecutors were under no obligation to propose a lighter sentence.

Wilson-Foley tearfully apologized in court Tuesday for conspiring with her husband, owner of the Apple Rehab nursing home chain, and Rowland to keep Rowland’s involvement in her campaign a secret.

Instead of using her campaign money to pay the former governor, who has previous corruption convictons and has served time in prison, the three conspired to have her husband pay Rowland for nominal or fictitious work for Apple Rehab.

Wilson-Foley is barred from appealing the sentence under the terms of her plea agreement with prosecutors, according to the Courant. According to the Connecticut Post, however, one of Wilson-Foley’s attorneys said he is looking into whether an appeal can be filed.

She asked the court to sentence her to serving time in Alderson, West Virginia, rather than the federal prison in Danbury, according to the Post.

As part of the sentence, she was also ordered pay a $20,000 fine and serve one year of supervised release, of which five months must be in home confinement, the Post reported.