Former Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Fumo was sentenced to 55 months in prison for corruption charges stemming from misappropriating millions of dollars of taxpayer money from the coffers of the state senate and two nonprofit organizations. 20 years was the sentence recommended by the prosecutors of the case or at the least 10 years in prison. The sentence of 55 months actually calculates into just over 4.5 years in prison.

Fumo was convicted on all 137 counts brought against him by the jurors but the judge presiding over the case, Ronald Buckwalter, decided that a 55 month sentence would be sufficient enough for what Fumo did while serving as senator in the state of Pennsylvania. The federal prosecutors that worked so feverishly on the case will ask the Justice Department if they can appeal the ruling handed down by Buckwalter because they are so furious over the ruling.

Fumo’s co-defendant, Ruth Arnao, will be sentenced next Tuesday and the U.S. Attorney’s office will wait until then to file an appeal on Fumo’s sentencing. The U.S. Attorney’s office has only 30 days to file their appeal. The prosecutors working on the Fumo case called his sentencing “unduly lenient and unreasonable.” The prosecutors also cite this past week’s outpouring of support for Fumo, which might have led the judge presiding over the case to hand down a sentence lower than what should have been assigned to the former state senator.

Many people in the city of Philadelphia, where the trial was taking place, are sick of hearing about this case because the taxpayer’s money is being wasted on a criminal that is not violent or dangerous to society. Instead, they would rather have their tax money put to better use, for protecting the streets of the city.