Birmingham, AL – A Birmingham preacher has avoided prison for his role in a state kickback scheme.
U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre sentenced the Rev. Samuel Pettagrue to five years on probation on Wednesday. He will spend one year in home detention, and she also ordered him to pay $306,000 in restitution.
Bowdre said Pettagrue's poor health played a major role in her decision. Bowdre last week sentenced former state legislator E.B. McClain to nearly six years in prison in the same case.
Prosecutors argued that McClain sent about $758,000 in state grants to a private foundation run by Pettagrue, who paid him kickbacks totaling $306,000 and kept $45,000 for himself.
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