SANFORD — A Sanford city councilor and former candidate for Maine House District 19 accused of violating the Maine Clean Election Act rejected a plea deal on Thursday, making a jury trial likely.

If convicted at trial, Victor DiGregorio faces up to a year in prison.

In a dispositional hearing at Springvale District Court Thursday, DiGregorio did not accept a plea bargain offered to him by the state. He is charged with attempting to steal public money by lying to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

The criminal complaint, filed at Springvale District Court on Feb. 8, accuses DiGregorio of lying when he said he had collected the required 60 $5 campaign contributions from constituents in his district.

In October, DiGregorio was denied $4,700 in MCEA funding when he ran in a special election for House District 19 of the Maine House of Representatives, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, prosecutor in the case.

Robbins said DiGregorio did not collect all required qualifying contributions to his campaign and may have paid for some of them with his own funds, despite affirming the contributions to the Maine Ethics Commission when he applied for public funding as a MCEA candidate.

“If (the Ethics Commission) had not uncovered the deception, they would’ve given him the $4,700,” Robbin said Thursday.

DiGregorio lost that election, earning only 110 votes to winner Republican Matthew Harrington’s 767.

The Attorney General’s Office has cited DiGregorio on six counts of making an unsworn falsification for allegedly attempting to deceive the Ethics Commission by affirming in writing he had collected the qualifying contributions necessary for his campaign.

DiGregorio has also been cited on one count of attempted theft by deception for allegedly using those falsified forms to collect public funding.

All counts brought on by the complaint are Class D misdemeanors that can carry a maximum of 364 days in prison and fines of $2,000 per count.

On Thursday, Robbin attempted to negotiate a plea deal with DiGregorio, which included the request of his pleading guilty on all seven counts in addition to serving some jail time, but the deal was rejected by the defense.

“At this point, we do not have an agreement,” Tyler Smith, a defense attorney, said on DiGregorio’s behalf. “I think we would like to continue to have some discussions, but it’s unlikely to come to a resolution.”

Robbin said after the hearing the AG’s office would likely request a maximum of 364 days in prison for DiGregorio if he is found guilty at trial.

“In the past, we have typically insisted on jail sentences on these clean election fraud cases,” she said, saying the prosecution may also look into fining DiGregorio on some or all of the counts issued against him.

Jury selection has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 24 at Alfred Superior Court.

DiGregorio may lose his seat on the City Council if convicted. The Sanford city charter contains a provision that states a person is no longer qualified to be counselor if convicted of a crime that carries a jail term greater than six months.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.