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President Donald Trump reportedly commuted the sentence of John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, a former union business manager.
Trump inked the commutation on Thursday, Dougherty’s lawyer, George Bochetto, reportedly told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The lawyer indicated the move will release Dougherty from needing to pay around $1.6 million for restitution and that the ex-union official will not face monitoring or house arrest, instead clearing him to become “a free man,” according to the newspaper.
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U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to host a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House on Sept. 2, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and to Bochetto on Friday.
“President Trump has signed a commutation so that Johnny Doc can be released from prison to take care of his gravely ill wife, Cecilia Dougherty,” Bochetto said, according to CBS News Philadelphia.
Former Philadelphia union leader John Dougherty talks to the media outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 2023, after he and a codefendant were convicted of using union funds for personal use. (Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)
Dougherty, a former business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, was sentenced in 2024 to six years in prison.
The U.S. Justice Department said at the time that Dougherty had been sentenced in connection with embezzling funds from the union as well as in connection with payouts provided to a Philadelphia City Council member.
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“John Dougherty held himself out as Local 98’s biggest booster,” then-U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in a statement. “But while he was backslapping his electricians with one hand, he was ripping them off with the other. He cheated Philadelphians, too, through his corrupt quid pro quo with Bobby Henon.”
“Our city and its workers deserve so much better than union bosses and politicians whose true priority is looking out for number one,” Romero, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, added at the time. “I want to thank all of the investigators, analysts, prosecutors, and staff who partnered on this case, and, in doing so, stood up for integrity and the rule of law in Philadelphia.”
