From NJ.com:

Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone said he was prepared to go to trial this fall and fight charges he had swiped the paychecks of his legislative aides and used the cash to help finance his 2005 re-election campaign.

Instead, the Hudson County Democrat, who has held public office for 12 years, accepted a plea bargain in state Superior Court in Mercer County that likely will allow him to stay out of jail. Most importantly, he said, his guilty plea means prosecutors will drop the case against his wife, Diane.

“It’s very upsetting that it came to what it came to today,’’ Chiappone, 52, said after the hearing. “In my mind, I was geared to going to trial. I had a dismissal hearing on the way. But there is another person involved, and it’s my wife. I’m doing what’s best for my family.”

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