Power broker sentenced
Samuel Kuttab was sentenced to six months in prison yesterday for using his political influence
PEOPLE WHO KNEW Sam Kuttab filed up to the microphone in federal court one by one earlier this week, each of them telling stories about how kind he was, how he was a good father and a businessman who took a chance on a neighborhood others fled long ago.
Kuttab, who raised funds and rubbed elbows in Democratic circles, is also the kind of guy who used political influence to try to fix a case in Philadelphia Municipal Court over a lawsuit that would have cost him about $2,700.
Kuttab could be both a good man and a law breaker and still deserve to go to jail again, U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez said Wednesday.
"This is not just a mistake," Sanchez said. "That's part of who he is."
Yesterday, Sanchez sentenced Kuttab, 55, of Wyncote, Montgomery County to six months in prison and fined him $4,000 for exerting his influence on former Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr.
Waters was appointed to the municipal bench in 2009. On Sept. 30, 2011, prosecutors allege Kuttab notified him about a Small Claims case he had pending in Municipal Court. Kuttab's company, Donegal Investment Properties, was being sued for $2,738.44, and Waters - who also was charged - contacted two judges handling the case to sway them. According to recorded conversations between Waters and those judges, it didn't take much pressure.
Kuttab cut a check for $600 to the plaintiffs after a settlement. Waters was sentenced to 24 months in prison in September.
Kuttab's family and friends asked Sanchez to sentence Kuttab to home confinement. One asked if Kuttab could be chained to the counter of his [Kuttab's] store.
"He has tried his very best to be a productive member of society," his daughter, Ahlam Rosa, said.
Kuttab, who served 32 months in prison for tax evasion, apologized to the court Wednesday. Yesterday, after he was sentenced, he turned toward his family and shrugged.