Former lawmaker gets prison for money laundering

A former Pennsylvania state representative was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for laundering drug money through his check-cashing business.

German Quiles, 69, of Newtown, Bucks County, owned Aruba Auto Tag Service and Aruba Check Cashing on North Fifth Street in Philadelphia. He was also ordered to pay $100,000 and given three years' supervised release.

Quiles was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy along with his wife, Maria, and daughter, Gloria. They will be sentenced at a later date.

The defendants laundered $175,000 in drug proceeds through their business, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Quiles, a Democrat, served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1970 and later was an employee of Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. - Mari A. Schaefer