NATION : Ex-Rep. Jenrette Gets 30-Day Term for Shoplifting, Says He’s Broke

FAIRFAX, Va. — Former Rep. John Jenrette was fined $200 and sentenced to 30 days in jail today for shoplifting clothes at a suburban Washington store, and his attorney said the penalty may trigger more prison time for his Abscam bribery conviction.

Jenrette, who spent 13 months in prison and was forced out of office for accepting a $50,000 bribe from undercover agents, was taken into custody after Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jack Stevens pronounced sentence.

Jenrette, 53, once a Democratic congressman from South Carolina, was convicted in June of stealing a pair of shoes and a tie from a Marshall’s department store in Vienna and altering price tags on a shirt and pair of pants.

Jenrette apologized to the court before sentencing, saying: “I have great remorse for this. I’ve totally wiped out all of my income and have lost any chance of getting my law license back. “ He said he is in therapy six days a week for alcoholism and other mental health problems and to try to learn why he does such destructive things.