(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Former US congressman Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison yesterday for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in the 2016 US presidential election.
Weiner, 53, started to cry as soon as the sentence was announced by US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan.
He pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a minor, and agreed that he would not appeal any sentence of 27 months or less.
'I was a very sick man for a very long time, but I'm also responsible for the damage I have done, Weiner read from a prepared statement in court before he was sentenced.
He said he was being treated, and asked Cote to spare him prison and sentence him to probation so he could continue treatment.
Weiner's lawyer, Arlo Devlin-Brown, said that while Weiner exchanged sexually-explicit messages with many women, all of the others were adults, and noted that the teenage girl contacted Weiner first.
Cote said she believed Weiner was suffering from an addiction, and was serious about being treated.
However, she said it was important to deter others from committing similar crimes.
'There is the opportunity to make a statement that could protect other minors, she said.
Weiner declined to speak to reporters as he left the courtroom.
He was ordered to surrender by November 6.
The investigation into Weiner's exchanges with a North Carolina high school student roiled the 2016 US presidential campaign in its final days, when authorities found e-mails on Weiner's laptop from his wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Abedin has filed for divorce.
Weiner, who wore his wedding band at the sentencing, and Abedin have a son, Jordan, who is five years old.
Weiner represented parts of New York City in the US House of Representatives for 12 years before resigning in 2011, after it emerged that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with adult women.
In 2013, Weiner ran for New York City mayor, but dropped out of the race when more lewd messages became public.
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