Team that put rep in prison will be honored

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investigators who collected evidence against former U.S. Rep. James Traficant and the prosecutors who sent him to jail will be honored for their work, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
Attorney General John Ashcroft will present the department's second-highest award for employee performance to the five-member Traficant team at a ceremony today in Washington.
Recipients include FBI agents Richard Denholm and Michael Pikunas and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Craig Morford, Bernard Smith and Matthew Kall.
Traficant, 62, is serving eight years in the Allenwood federal prison in Pennsylvania after being convicted April 11, 2002, of bribery and racketeering. The former nine-term Democratic congressman from northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley was expelled from Congress after his conviction.
Among those also scheduled to receive the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service on Wednesday is Patricia Campbell, a mediator for the Justice Department who worked with Cincinnati officials and community groups following the city's April 2001 race riots.