Heaton faces sentencing in Abramoff scandal

Inexperienced staffers
Heaton was a 23 year-old staffer in Ney's Washington office. Ney was a six-term House member from a conservative district in eastern Ohio. Within a year of being hired, the congressman offered Heaton a promotion that he just couldn't refuse, though he tried.

Heaton, now 29, joined Ney's office in August 2001 as Ney's executive assistant. Before that he had little job experience. He was a Congressional Page in high school and worked for the Clerk of the House after graduating from college.

As an executive assistant for Ney, Heaton essentially was tasked with following Ney around the Capitol and keeping him on schedule.  But in February 2002, despite Heaton's inexperience, Ney tapped him to replace Neil Volz as his chief of staff.

In a letter to the judge asking for leniency, Peggy Sampson, the Republican Page Supervisor for the past 20 years, writes, Heaton struggled with accepting the promotion.  She said he took the job, "only after first turning down the position, then reconsidering and accepting the job at the persistent bidding of his Member, former Congressman Bob Ney."

Heaton became the youngest chief of staff on Capitol Hill.

But it was precisely his youth and inexperience that convinced Ney that Heaton was the perfect person to replace Volz who left to work for Abramoff's expanding lobbying empire.

FREE VIDEO Ex-Congressman sentenced Jan. 19: Former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison. MSNBC

According to court documents, in selecting Heaton for this position, Ney confided to Volz, that he valued Heaton's inexperience and deferential attitude, especially where other, more seasoned candidates might "get up and walk out of dinner because it was too expensive" and violated the $50 per occasion maximum gift value.

Heaton's lawyers write, "Ney intentionally hired and quicklyse

promoted young, inexperienced staffers - who did not receive any formal ethics training from Congress - so that the staffers would have neither the knowledge nor the maturity to question Ney's conduct."

What Heaton didn't know was that the conspiracy with Abramoff was in full swing while Volz was still working for Ney, before Heaton had even joined Ney's staff.

Volz has also pleaded guilty in the Abramoff conspiracy and has yet to be sentenced.

Heaton did not begin to knowingly participate in the Abramoff-Ney conspiracy until August 2002. His attorneys say he did so reluctantly, "Dreading the role of 'tattletale on the playground,' Mr. Heaton tacitly joined the ongoing conspiracy."

Ney and Heaton both admitted to accepting three trips from Abramoff - to play golf in Scotland, to gamble in New Orleans, and to vacation in Lake George, New York. In each case, Heaton was the person Abramoff's lobbyists Tony Rudy or Neil Volz first called to talk about the congressman's participating in the trips.

Department Of Justice (Left to right, front row) Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, Rep. Bob Ney, R-OH, (back row, left to right) unidentified Scottish aide and David H. Safavian on a golf trip to St. Andrews in Scotland.

When Abramoff wanted favors from Ney, it was Heaton that his team called first.  Similarly, when Abramoff requested official action from Ney, he often used his lobbyists to contact Heaton first.

According to court papers, when Abramoff sought Ney's assistance on behalf of a client seeking a visa to travel to the United States, it was Heaton who was first contacted by the Abramoff lobbying team. Then, Heaton consulted with Ney about how to solve the visa issue and Heaton and Ney took steps to obtain this assistance for Abramoff's client.

In the court filing, officials say Heaton was an active participant in the conspiracy, soliciting and accepting free or reduced price trips courtesy of Abramoff and Volz, free food and drink at Abramoff's restaurant Signatures, and free entertainment tickets.  They also say, on a trip to London in August 2003, Heaton received and witnessed Ney receiving thousands of dollars worth of gambling chips from a foreign businessman, adding Ney brought back $47,000 in British Pounds and Heaton $5,000. Heaton placed them in the safe of the Capitol Hill office, opening the safe to withdraw cash at Ney's request.

Heaton lost his job on Capitol Hill because of the prosecution and now does landscaping work to make ends meet, living on a wage of $800 a month.

Joel Seidman is an NBC producer based in Washington.

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