The corruption case that caused a South Fulton County commisisoner to resign has ended.

Richard H. Deane Jr., United States attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Theodore Jackson, special agent in charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that Michael Hightower of Atlanta was sentenced Wednesday on corruption charges.

Hightower was sentenced to serve one year in custody with six months to be served in prison and six months in home confinement.

He also was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service and to serve 2.5 years of supervised release following his release from custody.

The government moved to reduce Hightower's sentence based upon the substantial assistance he has provided in the ongoing investigation of corruption in Fulton County government.

Hightower's cooperation resulted in guilty pleas from George Greene, a county contractor, and John Kenyon, former chief of staff to former commission Chairman Mitch Skandalakis.

The court's sentence mirrored the government's sentencing recommendation. Hightower pleaded guilty to the charge June 6.

Hightower pleaded guilty to a criminal information charge that in September 1999, he accepted cash from a county contractor.

According to information presented in court, Hightower has acknowledged that he accepted cash from George Greene on several occasions during 1998 and 1999, totaling approximately $25,000.

During the time Hightower was accepting cash from Greene, Greene's company, Sable Communications Corporation of Georgia, was a participant in a number of multi-million dollar contracts with Fulton County, including the Y2K computer compliance contract and the Criminal Justice Information System contract.

The federal statute to which Hightower pled guilty, Title 18, Section 666 of the United States Code, makes it illegal for officials and employees of local governments that receive federal funding to accept or solicit corrupt payments in connection with government business.

Hightower has resigned from the County Commission. This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant U.S. attorneys Sally Quillian Yates and David E. Nahmias prosecuted the case.