George Washington Crane V, the son of former Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.), was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for selling oxycodone pills to high school students and recent high school graduates in Virginia over a number of years. One of Crane's former clients fatally overdosed after taking the drug, according to The Washington Post.
In justifying his sentence, Federal District Court Judge Liam O’Grady said Crane, who is 48, poses "an enormous danger to our community." His sentence was close to the prosecutors' request of 15 to 20 years. Crane's attorneys asked for a lesser sentence of four years.
The Washington Post reported that Crane apologized during the sentencing hearing. He said he wanted to send his 'condolences' to the family of the 20 year old who overdosed on the drugs he sold, whom he described as a friend and a "good person."
"You chose a particularly vulnerable group of young people to supply, and you did it while you yourself were not addicted to oxycodone," the judge said to Crane.
Crane's father represented Illinois' 8th district from 1969 to 2004. At the time of his failed reelection bid in 2004, he was the longest-serving Republican member of the House of Representatives. He once took a leave of absence from Congress and entered a Maryland rehabilitation program to recover from alcoholism in 2000.
Phil Crane's brother, former Rep. Dan Crane (R-Ill.), also served in Congress. He was implicated in a congressional sex scandal and admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female page in 1980.
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