Upland bribery case – All four have been released from prison

Time for my semi-annual followup on the location of the defendants in the bribery case in Upland, the city just west of where I live.

The ex-mayor has been released from federal prison.

On 4/28/14, the Daily Bulletin reported Ex-Upland Mayor Pomierski to be released from prison Tuesday. On 4/29, the Daily Bulletin followed up with Ex-Upland mayor John Pomierski released from federal prison.

That means all four have been released.

On June 16, the Bureau of Prison’s inmate locator website showed the former mayor of Upland was at the Long Beach RRM with a release date of June 27, 2014. A Residential Reentry Management facility is essentially a halfway house to facilitate reentry after confinement.

I don’t know if that means Mr. Pomierski was under supervision from the Long Beach RRM while living at home or whether he is residing there until June 27. His co-conspirators show a status of released from custody. I didn’t see them have a transition status of being in a RRM.

On July 10, the inmate locator website reports his status as released on June 27, 2014.

Since starting to write about the Upland bribery case, I’ve learned how to use the federal PACER system, which provides access to federal court documents.

Here are some details from the August 8, 2012 sentencing document:

• Guilty plea to count #7 accepted
• Confinement in federal prison for 24 months
• No fine other than a $200 special assessment since he demonstrated the lack of ability to pay a fine
• Supervised released for 1 year
• Various testing requirements for substance abuse and agreement not to abuse alcohol or drugs
• Surrender to custody by October 1, 2012

Here’s my recap of his time in jail:

• 10/1/12 – reporting date
• 10/1/14 – expected release date based on 24 month sentence
• 6/17/14 – release date I would expect assuming 53 days credit for each year of sentence
• 6/27/14 – actual release date at shown on BOP web site, which is 10 days longer than I would expect – this implies 96 days early release, or 48 days per each year of sentence
• 4/29/14 – release date reported by Daily Bulletin and confirmed to the Daily Bulletin by spokesman at Taft correctional facility – this is an extra 59 days early release

That gives me this picture:

• 730 days / 24.0 months – formal sentence
• 634 days / 20.8 months – sentence less 53 days per year credit
• 575 days / 18.9 months – actual time in custody

Why do I go through this followup? First, for my education of how the federal prison system works. Second, to finish the discussion of consequences of fraud.