Press Release
FORMER HOLLYWOOD POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED IN CORRUPTION PROBE
August 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that former Hollywood Police Officer Jeffry Courtney was sentenced today on the charge of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846, for his role in protecting what he believed was the delivery of a multi-kilogram shipment of heroin. Courtney had previously pled guilty to this charge, which arose from a long-running undercover investigation by the United States Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into corruption within the Hollywood Police Department.
In a hearing in Fort Lauderdale, U.S. District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas sentenced Courtney to 108 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered that Courtney be taken into custody immediately after sentencing. As shown in the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings, during the course of this investigation, Courtney, a 15-year veteran of the Hollywood Police Department who held the rank of Sergeant, provided a variety of illegal services to a group of individuals who represented themselves to be part of a New York-based criminal organization. This organization was purportedly looking to recruit police officers to protect and facilitate their illegal operations. In reality, these individuals were FBI undercover agents, and the purported criminal activities were all staged operations done as part of the investigation.
During the course of the investigation, Courtney received approximately $22,000 as payment for protecting and facilitating the purported illegal activities of the New York organization. The defendant repaid this money to the FBI prior to his sentencing.
Mr. Acosta commends the efforts of the numerous special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who have been working on this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Edward N. Stamm.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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