Former District 7 Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced Friday to one month in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to federal theft and wire fraud.
The charges, reduced from six to two through a plea deal earlier this year, stem from what prosecutors described as a kickback scheme in which Fernandes Anderson funneled a bonus to a staff member, then took a portion of the money for herself.
Fernandes Anderson resigned from the council on the Fourth of July shortly after entering a guilty plea and went mostly silent, save for a major interview wherein she reportedly refused to answer questions about her charges.
Inside the courtroom, Fernandes Anderson tearfully pleaded forgiveness from God and for mercy from the court, characterizing herself as a hard working woman who tried hard to care for her family and as someone who was hesitant to speak about her charges for fear of saying the wrong thing.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, eyes downcast, face framed by a peachy pink hijab.
Her sobbing testimony moved several people in the packed courtroom to tears.
After the hour-and-a-half long proceedings, Fernandes Anderson asked reporters to stop writing about her case.
“I’m asking you, for the love of God, just let the story go,” she said. “It happened, I took responsibility,” she said, adding that media should also strive to more accurately cover stories involving Black people.
Asked for a response to receiving one month of prison time, she said “Everything that happens is for a reason. Everything.”
The sentence, handed down by Judge Indira Talwani, represents a departure from both the harsher penalty prosecutors recommended and the lighter penalty Fernandes Anderson and her attorney requested.
Fernandes Anderson and her public defender Scott Lauer had asked for a term of probation without prison time or a fine “as she is unemployed and lacks the ability to pay,” and with special conditions like “the completion of a substantial amount of community service,” the pair wrote in a sentencing memo.
Prosecutors had recommended a punishment of one year and one day in prison, three years supervised release, $13,000 in restitution and a $200 special assessment.
In a seperate sentencing memo filed with the court last month, federal prosecutors slammed Fernandes Anderson’s tenure as a city councilor as “marked by anything but true faith and allegiance to her constituents and to the City of Boston.”
“Fernandes Anderson’s crime is especially egregious because she clearly exploited the wide and expansive discretion that she enjoyed over her office’s budget to stuff her own pockets,” they wrote.
Prosecutors also pointed to other issues like incidents of campaign account fraud, the omission of $11,000 in income earned in 2021 from her taxes, and the hiring of her sister and her son in her City Council office against city policy and ethics rules. She was ordered to pay a $5,000 civil penalty for that violation.
“Fernandes Anderson’s bribe scheme cannot be chalked up to inexperience or ignorance – instead it is part of a pattern of putting herself first at the expense of her constituents,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.
In describing her reasoning for a lighter sentence, Talwani indicated that she viewed Fernandes Anderson’s crimes as theft and less akin to the example bribery cases that prosecutors offered to bolster their recommendation. At the same time, she said a sentence with some incarceration time seemed appropriate to avoid disparities with sentences in other, similar cases and to afford adequate deterrence for criminal conduct.
“It is a breach of the trust that we put in our government employees and elected officials,” said Talwani.
“You have an immense credit in your sons that you’ve raised,” she said directly to Fernandes Anderson. “At the same time, I can’t ignore these other matters.”
In days prior to the sentencing, the court received 142 pages of support letters attesting to Fernandes Anderson’s reputation as a community-centered force for good and pleading the court for leniency on her behalf.
“I write this letter with full awareness of the seriousness of her actions,” wrote former Boston School Committee member Chantal Lima Barbosa. “Yet, I still see the same woman I met five years ago: a daughter of immigrants, a devoted mother to resilient young Cabo Verdean men, a foster parent to children in need of safety and love, and a tireless advocate for her people ... I humbly ask the Court to consider granting Tania the mercy of serving her sentence at home.”
“As an elected official myself, I understand the weight of public trust and the responsibility to carry to uphold both the law and the confidence of the people we serve,” wrote District 4 Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell. “At the same time, I have come to know Tania as someone who has led with deep conviction ... While not without missteps, her intentions have always been rooted in service.”
The Rev. Miniard Culpepper, a candidate for the District 7 Boston City Council seat Fernandes Anderson vacated, was among the supporters who submitted a letter to the court.
“All of these people see [Fernandes Anderson] as someone who, despite her failings, is worthy of redemption,” said Lauer, arguing for a lighter sentence.
The sentencing wraps up a nine-month saga that began when Fernandes Anderson was arrested last December.
She is now scheduled to report to begin her sentence by October 17.
