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Law360 (February 4, 2021, 7:10 PM EST) -- A California woman on Thursday was granted a delayed start to her six-week prison sentence in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case in order to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, after telling a federal judge that it's a "modest" request.
Diane Blake, 55, was sentenced in November to begin her sentence on Feb. 15, but said that three things have changed since the sentence was handed down, including a surge in COVID-19 cases and a new, more contagious strain that is spreading.
But in a positive development, Blake pointed to the rollout of several COVID-19 vaccines and noted that President Joe Biden aims to have them administered to 100 million people within the first 100 days of his administration.
"The proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel' is in sight and it would be a cruel twist of fate were Ms. Blake to become severely ill — or worse — as a result of beginning her six-weeks of incarceration without the protection of the vaccine when a modest delay of 60 days could eliminate these risks altogether," Blake said.
She added, "Given that nearly one-third of [Federal Bureau of Prisons] inmates have contracted COVID-19 already, Ms. Blake would be at substantial risk of infection if she were to enter BOP custody without being vaccinated."
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton granted the motion on the same day it was submitted.
Blake and her husband, Todd Blake, were sentenced to federal prison for paying $250,000 in bribes to get their daughter into the University of Southern California, with Todd Blake receiving a four-month sentence. Judge Gorton accepted the negotiated sentences they agreed to when entering their guilty pleas in July.
The Blakes are also each on the hook for $125,000 in fines, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
The Blakes admitted to working with the mastermind of the college admissions bribery scandal, William "Rick" Singer, to bribe their daughter's way into the elite school as a fake volleyball recruit. The couple paid $50,000 to a USC athletics fund and $200,000 to Singer's nonprofit Key Worldwide Foundation.
The Blakes never informed their daughter, who was a volleyball player but not at USC caliber, of the scheme, prosecutors said.
The government has secured dozens of guilty pleas connected to the investigation known as "Operation Varsity Blues," including from two of the highest-profile defendants in the case, actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, noted clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli, who were sentenced to two months and five months in prison, respectively.
In her motion to delay her sentence, Blake said the court has already deferred self-surrender dates for other defendants in this case and has indicated that it would entertain further extensions if the pandemic has not abated by the time of an extended report date.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and counsel for Blake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The government is represented by Justin D. O'Connell, Karin M. Bell, Kristen A. Kearney, Leslie A. Wright and Stephen E. Frank of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Diane Blake and Todd Blake are represented by Stephen H. Sutro of Duane Morris LLP and Christian G. Kiely and David E. Meier of Todd & Weld LLP.
The case is U.S. v. Colburn et al., case number 1:19-cr-10080, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
--Additional reporting by Brian Dowling. Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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