Los Angeles politician Mark Ridley Thomas has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison. He has been ordered to surrender himself to law enforcement on November 13. This comes after he was on trial for voting in support of county contracts favouring USC, which would allow his son to benefit from the university. The 68-year-old was convicted after being suspended from the city council.Mark Ridley Thomas is facing 42 months in federal prison and has also been ordered to pay a $30,000 fine after been convicted on corruption charges.The politician was convicted on 30 March 2023 on single counts of bribery, conspiracy, honest services mail fraud and four counts of honest services wire fraud that comes from his time serving in the county’s Board of Supervisors.During his court proceedings, Ridley Thomas said in hopes of appealing his conviction:“My actions- and the fallout from those actions- have hurt my family, beginning with my wife of 44 years who should have never have had to go though the ordeal like this… I apologize to my sons, daughter in law and grandchildren, as well as other family members whose lives have been disrupted and traumatically impacted.”Ridley Thomas went on to add:“I will find a way to continue to learn from this devastating experience, to emerge from it as a more conscientious person, and to go forward once this is behind us with humility, with renewed commitment to service and with undaunted hope for a purposeful life dedicated to the communities”What exactly did Mark Ridley Thomas do?In the DOJ’s summary of Ridley Thomas’ case, it was shown that he conspired with Marilyn Louise Flynn, the former dean of the University of South California’s School of Social Work.In December 2017, Ridley Thomas’ son suddenly resigned from the California State Assembly. This would come after the youngster became the subject of a s*xual harassment investigation, which was a fact unknown by the USC. Meanwhile, the politican hired lawyers and a public relations team to ensure people that his son resigned solely for health reasons. Ridley Thomas did so to stall the Assembly’s investigation.Mark Ridley Thomas also sought “spots” for his son and family to ensure that he could continue his legacy. This would include advanced degrees, prestigious titles and paying jobs that would help his son deal with clearing his personal debt. He did so with the help of Flynn.Ridley Thomas managed to have his son get admitted to graduate school to pursue his master’s degree, a full-tome scholarship and paid professionship amongst other favors.Mark Ridley Thomas’ sentencing papers’ read:“This was a shakedown. Not the kind in movies with bags of cash or threats of force. But the kind that is polite and pervasive. The kind that happens too often by sophisticated, powerful people. The kind to which society and rarely yields consequences for the offender but strikes a devastating blow to the integrity of our democratic systems.”Defense attorneys asked for a home confinement term along with community service and a fine but no prison time. However, they did not succeed.