Odom pleads guilty to federal election violation

Panhandle developer Jay Odom pled guilty today to a federal election charge that he circumvented election contribution limits in 2007.

Odom, 56, of Destin, will be sentenced April 23 in Pensacola. He faces up to five years in prison. He was set to face trial March 4.

He pled guilty to one charge of causing a presidential campaign committee to make a false statement to the Federal Election Commission. Federal prosecutors found Odom reimbursed $23,000 to associates who made contributions to a presidential candidate, causing the candidate’s committee to falsely say 10 people had made donations when in fact the money all came from Odom.

In 2011, charges were dropped against Odom and former Republican House Speaker Ray Sansom for allegedly trying to get $6 million into the state budget to build a hanger at the Destin airport that would have benefited Odom.