Rite Aid CEO Gets 1 Year Off Sentence

A federal judge Thursday trimmed a year from former Rite Aid Corp. Chief Executive Martin L. Grass’ eight-year sentence for conspiring to obstruct justice and to defraud the nation’s third-largest drugstore chain and its shareholders.

U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo said she acted to reduce a disparity between Grass and other defendants sentenced for similar crimes. Grass, 51, smiled and blew a kiss to family members as federal marshals led him from the courtroom.

“We were certainly hoping that the sentence would be reduced,” said Grass’ lawyer, William H. Jeffress Jr. “We asked for less, but this is what the judge decided.”

Rambo had to resentence Grass because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision this year that invalidated the system under which his previous sentence had been calculated. Jeffress had sought a maximum term of four years and nine months.

Grass has been serving time at federal prisons in Florida since he was first sentenced in May 2004 for his role in the accounting scandal that rocked the pharmacy chain founded by his father, Alex.

Jeffress said Grass had been tutoring other inmates and was working as a painter in prison.