Middlebury man pleads guilty in Donovan case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Middlebury man who owned two roll-your-own tobacco shops in Waterbury has pleaded guilty for his role in an alleged campaign financing plot surrounding former House Speaker Chris Donovan's one-time congressional campaign.

Forty-year-old Paul Rogers pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of devising a scheme to bribe a public official, one count of conspiring to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission and impeding the agency's enforcement of federal campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors say Rogers and others schemed to hide the source of $27,500 in contributions to Donovan's campaign in hopes of trying to block state legislation that would be harmful to the roll-your-own tobacco industry.

Rogers is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13. He's the third defendant to plead guilty to charges related to the conspiracy.