Fumo computer aide pleads guilty to conspiracy, obstruction

Admitting that he tried to foil a federal investigation by erasing the memories of state Senate computers on orders of Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, technician Leonard P. Luchko this morning pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and agreed to testify against the powerful Philadelphia Democrat.

Luchko, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and 28 of obstruction of justice in a deal in which federal prosecutors promised to recommend that he spend no more than two years in prison.

The guilty plea by Luchko, whose job was to manage computer services for Fumo and more than a score of Fumo aides and contractors, is the most threatening development to date in Fumo's defense at his corruption trial beginning Sept. 8.

The plea agreement outlines how Luchko – on Fumo's orders – in November 2003 began a campaign to erase all e-mails between Fumo and his staff and to enforce a dictum that Senate staffers were never to save e-mails from Fumo without the Senator's permission.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease described the timing of Luchko's work as important because it began just nine months after the FBI and IRS began their investigation of Fumo and his financial dealings.

Luchko, of Collingdale, is the first of three aides indicted with Fumo in a wide-ranging corruption trial.

Luchko worked in Fumo's South Philadelphia office and he and another computer technician are charged with systematically deleting e-mails and other potential evidence from computers used by Fumo and Fumo's aides as well as workers at Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit that is a key element of the federal probe.

Fumo, 65, a formidable legislative powerbroker for decades, is accused of defrauding the state Senate and two nonprofit organizations, misusing their employees and money for personal and political advantage. He is also charged with staging a cover-up to obstruct the FBI and IRS probes.

Though Luchko is the first Fumo codefendant to plead guilty, others close to the senator have already been working with prosecutors.

In June, political consultant and Fumo confidant Howard J. Cain pleaded guilty to tax evasion and agreed to testify against Fumo. Another Fumo computer aide, Donald Wilson, has been cooperating with the federal probe since before the indictment.

Those left to stand trial with Fumo are: Mark C. Eister, 38, of Camp Hill near Harrisburg, another computer technician who allegedly helped the cover-up; and Ruth C. Arnao, 51, of Philadelphia, a long-time legislative aide to Fumo who also directed Citizens Alliance.