Former Jersey City Council candidate Lavern Webb Washington was indicted today for defrauding her campaign fund in connection with money provided to her by government cooperating witness Solomon Dwek in exchange for her future official assistance, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.  

Webb Washington, 63, of Jersey City, was charged with three counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

According to the indictment, Webb Washington accepted three $5,000 donations from Dwek during her campaign for Ward F council representative.  But the bulk of the money never made it to her campaign account, authorities say, and was instead used for personal expenses.

The donations were never reported to the Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Webb Washington previously pleaded guilty to an Information charging her with extortion conspiracy and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, however another court opinion ivalidated that charge.

If convicted, Webb Washington faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense on each of the three mail fraud counts and the one wire fraud count with which she is charged in the Indictment.