5 from Philadelphia area get clemency from Obama

Five people from the Philadelphia region were among the 231 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama on Monday.

White House officials called the 153 commutations and 78 pardons the largest number of clemencies granted on one day by any U.S. president.

Eight people from Pennsylvania and two from New Jersey were among those granted clemency.

The clemency recipients from the Philadelphia area, according to the White House, were:

- Milton DeJesus-Bones, of Philadelphia, who was sentenced to life in prison in January 2001 for cocaine offenses. His sentence was commuted to 30 years.

- Kareem Myers, of Philadelphia, who was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in federal court in Philadelphia in March 2007 for distributing cocaine. Myers' will now be released in December 2018 and a $1,200 fine will be remitted, conditioned on his enrollment in a residential drug treatment program.

- Tyrone Trader, of Chester, who had received a life term in federal court in Philadelphia in September 2008 for distributing cocaine. His term has been commuted to 25 years and a $1,000 fine will be remitted, conditioned upon enrolling in residential drug treatment.

- Doretha Doreen Rhone, of Philadelphia, who was sentenced to three years probation in March 1989 for a theft offense in Washington, D.C., and was pardoned.

- Edward John Hartman, of Westampton Township, Burlington County, he was sentenced to four months in jail and three years probation in July 1986 on conspiracy charges for submitting fraudulent Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration Documents. He was also pardoned.

During the final months of his presidency, Obama has stepped up his clemency grants. Several others from the Philadelphia area have had sentences commuted earlier this year.

Obama has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 people and granted 148 pardons.

"While each clemency recipient's story is unique, the common thread of rehabilitation underlies all of them," White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said in a statement. "For the pardon recipient, it is the story of an individual who has led a productive and law-abiding post-conviction life, including by contributing to the community in a meaningful way. For the commutation recipient, it is the story of an individual who has made the most of his or her time in prison, by participating in educational courses, vocational training, and drug treatment."