Prosecutors win Ali resentencing

The wife and daughter of a prominent Philadelphia Muslim cleric must be resentenced for a $270,000 community college scam, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

Faridah Ali, wife of convicted racketeer Imam Shamsud-din Ali, and her daughter, Lakiha Spicer, were convicted by a jury of fraud in 2004.

U.S. District Judge John Fullam sentenced them to probation and home confinement, irritating prosecutors, who had sought prison terms, and delighting defense lawyers, who had argued that the loss to taxpayers had been exaggerated.

The Community College of Philadelphia case was related to the separate racketeering case against Shamsud-din Ali and Faridah Ali in which they were sentenced by a different judge. In that case, he got seven years in prison; she got two years.

Wiretaps during the Ali investigations triggered the City Hall corruption probe, and ultimately led the FBI to place a bug in Mayor Street's office. Street was never accused of wrongdoing, but two dozen others, including former City Treasurer Corey Kemp, were sent to prison on corruption or related charges.

Yesterday's 47-page ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit directed Fullam to use legal standards more favorable to the government when the women are resentenced. But the ruling, written by Judge Thomas L. Ambro, did not directly order Fullam to send mother and daughter to prison.

Faridah Ali and Spicer were convicted of skimming $270,000 worth of federal funds for adult education classes at Sister Clara Muhammed School that were never taught. The classes were sponsored by Community College of Philadelphia.

Fullam sentenced Faridah Ali to five years' probation and one year of home confinement. Spicer received four years' probation and six months' home confinement.

The government appealed the sentences, saying that Fullam miscalculated the advisory federal sentencing guidelines and misapplied legal standards. Prosecutors Anthony J. Wzorek and Frank A. Labor 3d had sought four years in prison for the mother and two years for the daughter.

In sentencing the women to probation, Fullam cited the women's community service and concluded that the evidence was not strong enough to support the prosecution's estimated loss to the taxpayers - $270,000. Under charts used by judges to calculate the advisory guidelines, the length of a sentence is often driven by the dollar size of the alleged fraud.

At sentencing, Fullam said that although he didn't think the women set out to defraud anyone, the program had been "very sloppily put together."

"I have no doubt that, when the defendants were first hired by the community college, they, in good faith, expected to teach classes," he said. "And they did start out teaching classes. And then, everybody who was supposed to be coming to the class lost enthusiasm, and the whole thing kind of fell apart. And these defendants stayed in it too long and collected money they weren't entitled to."

Faridah Ali's lawyer, Joel Fishbein, declined to comment yesterday, saying he hadn't read the opinion yet. Spicer's lawyer, Joel Frank, could not be reached.