After his guilty plea to charges of sexting a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina on Friday, former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner will have to register as a sex offender where he lives and works. The 52-year-old, who cried openly in a New York court, could face a prison term of up to 10 years.
The charge of transferring obscene materials to a minor has a maximum sentence of up to 10 years.
But federal prosecutors said a 21- to the 27-month sentence would be fair and appropriate, The New York Times reported. Weiner's sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 8 in the Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Huma gives up on marriage
May 19 is a date that the media-savvy social politician would never forget. Besides pleading guilty to charges, Weiner’s marriage to Huma Abedin also took a turn for the worse as she filed for divorce on the same day. Abedin, the long-time aide of defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, filed for divorce at the Manhattan Supreme Court.
She initially filed for an uncontested divorce, but Abedin later amended the document to “contested” which suggests Weiner, at the last minute, likely did not sign the divorce papers.
Experts foresee a long court battle for the ex-couple who is among the five people blamed for the defeat of the former Secretary of State in the November 2016 presidential election. The legal battle likely would be over visitation rights to Jordan, their five-year-old son, New York Post reported.
Suzanne Kimberly Bracker, a Manhattan divorce lawyer, said Weiner’s guilty plea would likely result in no judge allowing him to enjoy unsupervised visitation. Michael Stutman, another divorce attorney, said that Abedin has the advantage in an anticipated custody battle over their child. He estimated it would cost the former congressman more than $100,000 to contest the divorce.
Weiner’s sexting habit
A year after their marriage in 2010, Weiner admitted to his wife that he tweeted an underwear selfie.
The sexting behavior to a lot of women continued that in 2013, Weiner dropped his mayoral bid. But at that time, Abedin said she loves her husband and had forgiven him.
In 2016, she continued to show restraint by not filing yet for divorce when another scandal hit Weiner who was caught sending another underwear selfie taken while Jordan, who was then 3, was sleeping at his hip. Experts noted that she did not divorce her husband then to claim spousal protection so Abedin would not need to take the stand in his underage sexting case.
At the hearing, Weiner was seen still wearing his wedding ring. He admitted to Judge Loretta Preska that he compulsively sought attention from women who contacted him on social media.
The ex-congressman said he engaged many of the females in sexual and nonsexual chatter. He acknowledged his destructive impulses devastated his family and friends and destroyed his political career, but Weiner remained in denial until his world crashed.