By CHARLES L. WARNER

SPARTANBURG — Who is the third man in the public corruption case involving former Union Mayor Bruce Morgan and former building and zoning inspector Jeff Lawson?

Morgan was sentenced to 5 years, 11 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Henry F. Floyd Wednesday afternoon for conspiring to take kickbacks from contractors seeking to do business with the city. Lawson was sentenced to 12 months and one day. The two pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and extorting money in violation of the Hobbs Act, the federal statute which prohibits public officials from using their positions for public gain.

Floyd ordered Morgan and Lawson to each pay $7,000 in restitution to their victims; forfeit $7,500 of the proceeds from their illegal activities to the FBI; and pay a $200 special assessment. Afterwards, both Morgan and Lawson will spend three years under supervised release.

The two men could have been sentenced to as many as 20 years in prison and fined $250,000 for each count.

Morgan resigned in July just before it was announced that he and Lawson had been indicted on seven counts of violating the Hobbs Act. The indictment alleged that Morgan and Lawson conspired to extort more than $30,000 in bribes or kickbacks from contractors.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing it was revealed that a third person was involved in the conspiracy to extort bribes from at least one contractor. Prior to sentencing, Morgan’s attorney, Oscar Bannister, raised an objection to the government’s depiction of Morgan as the leader of the conspiracy. The objection was overruled by Floyd, who found that Morgan, in his capacity as mayor, had indeed been the leader, organizer and supervisor of the conspiracy.

Investigators claim that Lawson acted as the intermediary between Morgan and the contractors in all but one instance. In that instance, Morgan used another middle man to collect the money from a contractor. He then collected his share of the money from that middle man as he did from Lawson.

U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins declined to identify this third man but said the investigation into public corruption in Union is continuing and that more indictments could be expected in the near-future.

Both Morgan and Lawson apologized as they stood before the court. Lawson was especially emotional, becoming choked up at several points and wiping tears from his eyes. He apologized to the citizens of Union and his family.

“I’ve done everything I can could to make this go away and correct what I did,” he said. “The most thing in the world is my family and I don’t want to lose them. I’m sorry.”

Morgan was more composed, saying he was “extremely sorry for my actions and what took place.” He called his actions out of character and apologized to the citizens of Union, his family and friends.

“I am sorry,” he said.

Lawson’s lesser sentence was due to his early and extensive cooperation with the FBI. His role in the conspiracy was exposed by a North Carolina sign contractor who contacted the FBI after reportedly being solicited for a bribe. The contractor wore a wire and went undercover for the FBI, making four separate payments to Lawson totaling $20,000.

Mark Moore of the U.S. Attorney’s Office told Floyd that when Lawson was confronted by the FBI with evidence of his activities he agreed to cooperate. Moore said Lawson confessed and told agents about the three other contractors; told them about Morgan; how the scheme worked; about the 50-50 split of the money; provided the names of four other witnesses — two of whom implicated Morgan; and wore a wire himself.

While he had no desire to diminish the crimes committed by Lawson, Moore said he has been as cooperative as federal officials hope all suspects will be when confronted with evidence of their guilt. He added that Lawson’s cooperation and the information he provided on how business is done in Union has enabled the investigation to expand into a much larger probe of public corruption that could to more indictments.

Though Morgan is now cooperating with investigators, Moore and Wilkins said it began much later in the course of the investigation. If this cooperation makes an important contribution to the investigation, Wilkins said, the government might ask the court to reduce Morgan’s sentence.