Former Springfield Mayor Jeff Northway has pleaded guilty to false swearing and perjury and been sentenced to 10 years of probation and a $30,000 fine.
Northway pleaded guilty Wednesday before Circuit Court Judge F. Gates Peed, according to the clerk of court’s office.
Northway was sentenced to five years of probation on each of the two counts, to be served consecutively. He also was fined $30,000, with the first $5,000 due Wednesday.
If after four years the fines are all paid, Northway may apply for early termination of probation, the judge said.
Northway was elected mayor in 2009 and resigned in July of 2012 amid claims he was a convicted felon.
The charges of false swearing stem from Northway’s filing of a notice of candidacy for the mayor’s post.
The indictment said Northway “knowingly and willingly” made a false statement in that document when he said he’d never been convicted and sentenced for a felony involving moral turpitude.
Northway was convicted of theft by receiving and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in Harris County, Texas, in 1983 and 1988.
Those crimes are both felonies involving moral turpitude.
In count two of the indictment, Northway was charged with perjury for answering, “No,” when asked under oath in a deposition if he had ever been arrested, and when asked if he had ever been convicted of a crime.
The deposition was taken in litigation following the filing of a petition by Springfield’s city council to remove Northway from office based on accusations of malpractice in office, willful neglect of duty and gross and willful abuse of powers.
Northway was ordered removed from office by Effingham County Superior Court Judge Chief William Woodrum Jr. after a three-day trial.
Northway continued to fight the ouster and won an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s ruling became moot when allegations of a criminal past surfaced and Northway resigned.