 Even though Menendez tried to say hoarding cash was a Cuban thing and it was his wife who was the one really responsible here. Hey, does he go to prison for something like that? Are we about to see a sitting US senator go to jail? He sure could. And the charges that he's convicted of taken together carry the possibility of years in prison. Now Menendez, this is his first time being convicted. He doesn't have a criminal record. This was not a violent crime.