Columbus public-corruption convict Raphael set to leave federal prison a month early
John Raphael, the two-time Columbus public-corruption convict, is now scheduled to be released from federal prison this weekend, about a month ahead of his six-month sentence for rigging a contract for food service.
A Federal Bureau of Prisons website that gives basic information on prisoners shows that Raphael was moved, apparently recently, from a prison hospital facility in Lexington, Kentucky, to an unlisted "residential reentry management" facility managed by a Cincinnati field office.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to disclose why the release date had changed from the original listed date, Feb. 20, or where Raphael was currently housed.
"We are unable to reveal any details of Mr. Raphael's location, date change, or any information regarding his release details," Shannon Wicks, residential reentry manager, said in an email.
The Cincinnati field office manages numerous, mostly private contract facilities around Ohio. A federal courts website says the facilities are "also known as halfway houses or community correctional facilities," and can "provide the individual with reentry programming to help successfully transition back into society."
The federal inmate website now lists Raphael's release date as Sunday, Jan. 21, meaning he would have served about five months of his six-month sentence for his role in a bribery scheme involving a multi-million-dollar food vending contract at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Raphael pleaded guilty in 2021 to taking $144,000 from Centerplate, a national firm that was bidding for the food service contract at the convention center, in exchange for secret bid information for the contract and other illegal assistance in steering the work.
Raphael at the time was a member of the board of directors of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, which owns and operates the convention center, Nationwide Arena, the Hilton Columbus Downtown Hotel and six parking facilities. His last payment from the company was in the form of a $40,000 "success fee" for the firm officially landing the contract.
Raphael, a Clintonville resident, had once been an influential City Hall lobbyist, with ties to local Democrats, including current Mayor Andrew J. Ginther.
In his first conviction, Raphael, then 60, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion by threats. He admitted that he threatened Redflex officials with the potential loss of city contracts to install red light cameras to persuade them to give money “on behalf of elected officials,” prosecutors said.
Ginther, then a city council member, acknowledged at the time he asked Raphael to help him secure a donation from Redflex. Ginther had personally called a Redflex official requesting $20,000 for his campaign, The Dispatch reported. Court documents said Redflex gave Raphael $20,000 to pass along in October 2011. Raphael then gave the $20,000 to the Ohio Democratic Party, which then made a $21,000 donation to Ginther’s campaign.
When Raphael pleaded guilty in the Convention Center case, he was facing up to 20 years in prison. But U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, who acknowledged that he grew up in the same neighborhood as the defendant and knew members of his family, sentenced Raphael to one day of prison, waived in advance, and placed him on three years of probation.
Federal prosecutors took the unusual step of appealing that sentence, noting that guidelines had suggested a term of up to 51 months. Last April, a federal appeals court ordered Watson to resentence Raphael. In July, Watson resentenced him to six months in federal prison.
It was unclear why Raphael, 68, then instead reported to a prison hospital, but his attorney had argued he suffered from various health conditions.
wbush@gannett.com
@ReporterBush
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex-city lobbyist Raphael set for freedom after second prison stint
