A 46-year-old Des Moines man was sentenced Oct. 8 by a U.S. District Court judge to 45 days in prison, two years of supervised released and a $30,000 fine for lying to a federal grand jury.
John Kenneth Arnold pleaded guilty in May of lying to the grand jury during the investigation of criminal racketeering at the Frank Colacurcio Sr. owned strip clubs in Seattle, Everett and Tacoma.
“The bottom line is you lied not once, but multiple times,” U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman said to Arnold at his sentencing in Seattle, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release. “When you lie to the grand jury it damages everybody else who is truthful. It calls into question everyone else who testifies.”
Pechman noted that she considers lying to a grand jury a very serious crime, and added it was the first time she has sentenced someone for perjury in 23 years on the bench.
According to court records, Arnold, a former senior executive with Bellevue-based Intelius, Inc., was first interviewed by the FBI in January 2009.
The investigation into the Colacurcio-owned strip clubs revealed that Arnold had been posting reviews online of sex acts performed at the strip clubs. Despite those postings, Arnold denied to agents that he had been involved in any sex acts at the clubs, and further denied making the postings.
When called before the grand jury in February 2009, Arnold again denied participating in any sex acts at the clubs, and claimed the online postings were mere fantasies. He made these statements despite repeated warnings from agents and later from prosecutors that he was under oath and needed to answer truthfully.
Arnold was arrested for lying to the grand jury in January 2010. Shortly after his release on bond, he violated the terms of his release by surreptitiously attempting to contact a witness in the case. Arnold was arrested and held for five days before being released on GPS monitoring.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman sought a 30-day sentence for Arnold. Pechman went above that recommendation with the 45-day sentence and ordered Arnold immediately into custody.
“People must tell the truth for the (justice) system to be respected,” Pechman said.
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