Ex-US Rep. Weiner pleads guilty

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose penchant for sexting strangers ended his political career and sparked a probe that upended the presidential race, pleaded guilty Friday to a sex charge, tearfully apologizing for communications with a 15-year-old girl that he said destroyed his “life’s dream in public service.”

Weiner, who could go to prison, pleaded guilty to a single count of transmitting obscene material to a minor. He admitted exchanging online messages with the girl beginning in January 2015 and “sharing explicit images and encouraging her to engage in sexually explicit conduct.”

“I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” he said.

In court, the 52-year-old former Democratic congressman paused repeat-edly as he fought back tears and tried to compose himself. He said he knew the texting was “as morally wrong as it was unlawful.”

Pleading to the charge, which requires him to register as a sex offender, could bring a sentence of up to 10 years. But Weiner is likely to serve a much shorter term if he is sentenced to prison. He signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in which he agreed not to appeal any sentence between 21 and 27 months in prison. His lawyer can request leniency at a sentencing scheduled for Sept. 8.

He said he “compulsively sought attention from women who contacted me on social media” beginning with his service in Congress and continuing through the first half of last year.

“I engaged with many of them in both sexual and nonsexual conversation,” he said. “These destructive impulses brought great devastation to my family and friends and destroyed my life’s dream in public service. Yet I remained in denial even as the world around me fell apart.”

Weiner said he began getting mental-health treatment in the fall, when he said he “came to grips for the first time with the depths of my sickness.”