Mike Carona, "America's Sheriff," headed for Littleton federal prison

Disgraced ex-lawman Michael Carona, a former hot property in California Republican circles and once dubbed "America's Sheriff" by an admiring Larry King, has lost his appeal on corruption charges and may soon be one of the more celebrated inmates at Federal Correctional Institution Englewood...

By Alan Prendergast

January 7, 2011

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Disgraced ex-lawman Michael Carona, a former hot property in California Republican circles and once dubbed "America's Sheriff" by an admiring Larry King, has lost his appeal on corruption charges and may soon be one of the more celebrated inmates at Federal Correctional Institution Englewood.

As explained in this account from one of our sister papers, the OC Weekly , Carona's attorneys failed to persuade the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn his 2009 conviction for urging potential witnesses to lie in a federal grand jury probe of corruption in the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

A charismatic figure who was once seriously considered as Arnold Schwarzenegger's running mate in the California gubernatorial campaign, Carona has been sentenced to 66 months in federal prison for witness tampering. His promising career as a take-charge crimebuster broke up amid a swirl of investigations involving allegations of fraudulent campaign contributions, bribery, tax evasion and other offenses.

But Carona can still look on the bright side. Actually located in Littleton, FCI Englewood was named by MSN as among "The Best Places to Go to Prison" because of its recreational opportunities, including foosball and pool.

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Alan Prendergast is a former staff writer at Westword and is now a senior contributor. He writes about various topics but primarily focuses on news. He’s contributed to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Outside, USA Today, Men's Journal and other publications and is the author of two nonfiction books, Gangbuster: One Man's Battle Against Crime and The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge. He’s earned numerous accolades for his work including the Eugene Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award and two national feature writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Contact: Alan Prendergast

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