Ana Alliegro, one of the central figures in a scheme to run a fake Congressional candidate against Joe Garcia in 2012, broke her silence Friday about the entire scheme that landed her behind bars.
Alliegro has admitted to secretly financing the campaign of Democrat Justin Sternad in the 2012 Democratic Congressional primary. The goal, according to Alliegro, was to force Democrat Joe Garcia to waste resources on the primary that he then wouldn’t have to use against her candidate, then-Congressman David Rivera.
Alliegro told NBC 6 that she was romantically involved with Rivera at the time the scheme was put together and executed. She said the two of them “shared something” and that even though Rivera wasn’t perfect, “we were both Republicans with conservative values.”
Still, she wouldn’t put all of the blame on Rivera.
“I am not going to say that I did this because David is, you know, manipulating me romantically. That would be a copout for me,” Alliegro said.
Investigators have said Alliegro and Rivera worked together on the scheme. As the federal government began increasing its scrutiny of Alliegro’s actions, she fled to Nicaragua.
“I was not running away from the law,” Alliegro said. “I was running away from a scandal and I, perhaps, didn’t do the responsible thing or I was acting irrationally and admit it, but I just wanted to find peace.”
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Instead of peace, she was found by Nicaraguan Police who captured her and put her in a jail in the Central American country. Alliegro described the experience saying there were “scorpions all over the place” and that she couldn’t eat or drink the water and didn’t sleep for four days.
Alliegro would be returned to the United States and ended up serving six months in jail for her role in the political scheme. When she walked out of federal prison, she was still in her prison jumpsuit. It was quite the fall for the one-time rising star in the Republican Party.
“I don’t blame David Rivera for what happened, I assume responsibility for my own actions,” Rivera said.
As for Rivera, he has not been charged with a crime in relation to the scheme. He’s been investigated multiple times on different claims at both the state and federal level. Alliegro said that if asked, she will testify against Rivera.
“I haven’t been called to testify against him, so I really can’t comment as to what his future holds, only the prosecutors would know that,” Alliegro said.
Alliegro will spend six months on house arrest and will then be on federal probation for two years.
