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Ex-regulator may be headed to prison

Associated Press

By BARRY MASSEY, Associated Press

Updated: Jan 27, 2012 1:53 PM

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Former state utility regulator Jerome Block Jr. is heading back to court for sentencing on felony charges.

Block resigned last year from his $90,000-a-year job on the Public Regulation Commission under a plea agreement with the attorney general's office.

Block is to appear in state district court Friday afternoon. He faces up to four and a half years in prison after failing to comply with a plea agreement requirement that he complete a court-supervised drug treatment program. Block has said he is addicted to prescription painkillers.

The five-member agency regulates utilities, telecommunications and insurance rates.

Block has pleaded guilty to felonies, including misuse of a state-issued gasoline credit card when he was a PRC member and for violating election and campaign finance laws in 2008 when running for office.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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