FORMER FBI AGENT SENTENCED TO PRISON ON THEFT CONVICTION

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Department of Justice announced that Alan Tatum, a former Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was sentenced on theft charges at U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Mississippi yesterday. Tatum, of South Haven, Miss., was sentenced to five months incarceration, three months home confinement, and three years supervised release. Tatum pleaded guilty to theft charges on Feb. 8, 2002.

On April 21, 1999, officers of the Tunica County Sheriff's Department in Tunica, Miss., conducted a search of a hotel room. At the conclusion of the search, the seized items were turned over to Tatum, then a Special Agent with the FBI. Included among the seized items was $28,085.80 in cash. Tatum kept the cash and other seized items for his own use, instead of turning them over to the FBI, as he was required to do.

Tatum resigned from the FBI in July 2000, after approximately 16 years with the Bureau. In January 2001, Tatum was convicted of making and using a false document at a federal criminal trial at which he testified as an FBI agent. Tatum served five months in prison for that conviction.

This case was investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

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