Ex-Ryan aide gets probation for diverting state resources
'Supporting character' cooperated with government
But as he sidled up to the politically powerful in Illinois, Richard Juliano wasn't thrust into prominence. He was quickly corrupted working as a top aide under former Gov. George Ryan, he told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in 2002 to diverting state resources to Ryan's campaign.
He's tried to make it up ever since, meeting with the government 50 times and testifying at two trials. Still, Juliano, 39, was sentenced to four years of probation and three months in a work-release program where he has to live outside his home at nights and on weekends.
"I will forever be known as a supporting character in one of the most ignominious chapters in Illinois history," Juliano said.
Juliano, who said "not a single waking hour" goes by without his thinking about his misdeeds under Ryan, quit his position with the U.S. Department of Transportation after he was charged with the felony. He also gave up his lifelong dream of working in a presidential administration, he said.
Juliano told Pallmeyer he sometimes sees former colleagues from University of Chicago law school quoted on TV. "I always wonder whether that could have been me," he said.
Juliano's sentence contrasts with the six and a half years his immediate boss under Ryan, Scott Fawell, is now serving. That's because Juliano took responsibility for his actions, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins said. He immediately cooperated with prosecutors in 2001 before he was even charged. Collins asked Pallmeyer to "send a strong message of mercy" to encourage wrongdoers in government today to step forward and cooperate.
"His cooperation was significant, substantial and longstanding," Collins told her.