Ex-Aide to Robb Fined $5,000 in Illegal Tape Case
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NORFOLK, Va. — A former aide to Sen. Charles S. Robb has pleaded guilty to conspiring to leak an illegally taped telephone conversation of Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to discredit Wilder and deflect negative attention from Robb.
Steven D. Johnson, Robb’s ex-press secretary, entered the plea last week in U. S. District Court as part of a deal with prosecutors. He was fined $5,000.
In a transcript of the 1988 conversation, Wilder, who was then lieutenant governor, said he believed that reports linking Robb to drug parties in Virginia Beach would destroy Robb politically. Robb, a former Virginia governor, denied attending parties where drugs were used.
Johnson said he conspired to disclose the conversation by playing the tape for and providing a transcript to a reporter.
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