Former lawmaker sentenced

A former state lawmaker was sentenced to six months of house arrest Monday after admitting he placed his sister and niece in state jobs that reaped them thousands of dollars for little or no work.

Former Rep. Frank LaGrotta also was sentenced to probation and community service, was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to two felony conflict-of-interest charges. He will be on electronic monitoring during his house arrest.

LaGrotta, 49, apologized to his family, former constituents and state residents “for the trauma that this has caused.”

Senior Deputy Atty. Gen. Anthony J. Krastek said he was lenient because LaGrotta was cooperating with investigators. He declined to elaborate.

Krastek declined to say whether LaGrotta had testified before the grand jury that is investigating millions in bonuses given to legislative staff members.

The state attorney general is looking into whether the bonuses were illegally tied to work performed on political campaigns.

Ann Bartolomeo, LaGrotta’s sister, and Bartolomeo’s daughter, Alissa Lemmon, pleaded no contest to lying to a grand jury and received probation and $3,000 fines.