AKRON, Ohio – Failing health, a fragile mental condition and old age helped to spare Anthony Sinagra from being sentenced under federal sentencing guidelines today that could have sent him to prison for up to three years.

U.S. District Court Judge Sara Lioi took pity on the retired politician, sentencing Sinagra to 1-1/2 years in a federal prison for his role in bribery and conspiracy schemes valued at more than $110,000.

Sinagra, 73, the former mayor of Lakewood and a one-time state senator, was ensnared in 2009 in the federal Cuyahoga County corruption investigation that has produced more than 60 convictions of government officials, businessmen and contractors.

Sinagra pleaded guilty to accepting and paying bribes while working as a consultant for a Cleveland halfway house and the Parma city schools, and of performing little work in return for a $6,000-a-month paycheck.

Sinagra asked the judge to give him credit for a lifetime of crime-free public service, but she turned that argument around when deciding his punishment.

“Along with those years of experience should have come wisdom and the ability to discern how to conduct oneself,” Lioi said.

Sinagra asked the judge to place him on house arrest rather than send him to prison. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Rowland said the defendant was a willing participant in the criminal corruption schemes and had earned time behind bars.

“Why did Mr. Sinagra involve himself in these schemes?” Rowland asked. “The only conclusion I think we can draw is that he did it for the money – one of the oldest motives there is for this kind of crime.”

Sinagra’s attorney, John Brzytwa, said his client’s crimes were an “aberration,” and he sought to separate him from the “rat pack that ran things in Cuyahoga County.”

Those people included ex-County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, ex-Auditor Frank Russo, and attorney Anthony O. Calabrese III, all of whom are serving long prison terms.

“He got in with some bad characters and made some bad decisions, and he acknowledges this,” Brzytwa said. He said Sinagra’s fragile mental condition and physical infirmities are “only going to get worse,” and called a prison term “tantamount to a life sentence.”

At his plea hearing in 2009, Sinagra said the strain of the criminal case made him consider suicide.

Sinagra admitted bribing former Parma school board member J. Kevin Kelley in exchange for consulting work from the district. He also admitted taking $190,000 in fees from the Alternatives Agency halfway house while performing little or no work in return.

The deal with the halfway house was arranged by Calabrese, who is serving a nine-year prison sentence for racketeering, bribery and other corruption-related charges.

Kelley also pleaded guilty to bribery, telling the FBI he funneled more than $300,000 to A.C. Sinagra & Associates from 2002-2008. Kelley is awaiting sentencing.

In return, Sinagra and others connected with his consulting firm gave Kelley more than $3,000 in campaign contributions, plus $2,000 in cash and bottles of wine.

Sinagra also received time cut from his potential prison sentence in exchange for assisting the FBI and federal prosecutors in the county corruption investigation. He also testified before a county grand jury investigating Calabrese.

In addition to prison time, Sinagra also must pay more than $53,000 in restitution to the county, and $5,000 to the Parma schools.

Sinagra served as Lakewood mayor for 13 years, leaving office in 1990. He served one term as as an Ohio state senator before losing to Democrat Dennis Kucinich in 1994.