Civil Rights Violation Sentencing

Lawyers with the United States Department of Justice (”DOJ”) announced in a November 4, 2009 Press Release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-crt-1190.html that a Judge has sentenced a former law enforcement officer with the Memphis, Tennessee Police Department to 27 months in prison and one year of supervised release after the former law enforcement officer pleaded guilty to stealing money from motorists while acting under the color of law.  According to the DOJ Press Release, the former officer admitted that he surreptitiously stole cash from three Hispanic drivers he pulled over while on duty as a Memphis police officer.  As stated in the DOJ Press Release, he ordered the victims out of their vehicles, patted them down and removed personal items from them during the search.  He then stole money from the victims before returning their personal items and releasing them.  A DOJ lawyer quoted in the Press Release stated that ” We place in police officers a great deal of trust, and the Civil Rights Division will aggressively prosecute those officers who violate the rights of others, and the public trust, for personal gain.”  This case was investigated by the FBI and the Memphis Police Department.