WASHINGTON (AP)- A Florida couple agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to federal criminal charges of intercepting a cellular telephone call between House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other Republican leaders last December.
Identical one-count criminal informations were filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Fla., against John and Alice Martin of Fort White, Fla.
The Martins signed agreements with prosecutors to plead guilty and those were filed in court along with the charges. The Martins admitted in the agreements that they intentionally intercepted the telephone conversation and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s continuing investigation of the case.
Justice officials, who requested anonymity, said the investigation is continuing here into how a transcript of the conversation ended up in The New York Times, and later in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
The call-between Gingrich, House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, Rep. Bill Paxon of New York and others-took place last Dec. 21 as the House ethics committee was about to announce a settlement of its investigation of complaints against Gingrich.
The Martins each face a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine with no prison term. The government made no promises on what sentence it might recommend.
