SOUTHLAND : Man Given Sentence for Payola
A San Mateo man who gave a Fresno radio program director cocaine in exchange for playing certain records was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles today to 60 days in a halfway house and fined $100,000 for the payola scheme.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Ann Rymer also ordered Ralph Tashjian, 41, to perform 500 hours of community service and serve three years probation after his release.
Rymer said she had intended to impose a stiffer sentence on Tashjian, who is the first person convicted under the federal payola law amended in 1960. But she said she changed her mind after Department of Justice attorney Drew Pitt declined to seek a specific term.
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