New Jersey Detective Sentenced

[larrymeyer]

http://www.officer.com/online/articl...ion=1&id=46761

Ex-New Jersey Detective Sentenced


Posted: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Updated: May 20th, 2009 12:34 PM GMT-05:00


A former detective-sergeant of the Passaic County Sheriff's Department who was also a former Haledon Borough council member was sentenced today to 85 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute significant quantities of cocaine that he had stolen from the evidence vault at the Sheriff's Department, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced.

U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares rejected the request from Alan Souto to be allowed to surrender at a subsequent date to begin serving his sentence and instead ordered him to prison immediately. In doing so, Judge Linares cited the seriousness of Souto's crimes, the long prison sentence, and his status as a former law enforcement officer as incentives to flee.

Souto, 40, pleaded guilty before Judge Linares on Dec. 4 and admitted that he received proceeds totaling at least $250,000 from the sale of the cocaine by others participating with him in the conspiracy. Souto stipulated in his plea agreement that the amount of stolen drugs was at least 43 kilograms (94.6 pounds) of cocaine and 700 grams of heroin.

Souto pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal Information charging him with conspiracy to distribute, and possession with intent to distribute, 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. "Souto committed an egregious violation of his sworn duty to uphold the law," said Marra. "This was a serious crime deserving of a severe sentence."

"Mr. Souto was certainly a man who knew better," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun. "But once again, we have an example of a public official a law man and former councilman putting his own interests before those of the public. This sentence was a fitting one and we commend the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and particularly, the Passaic County Sheriff's Office for doing the difficult job of helping the FBI bring one of their own to justice. They have proven to the citizens of Passaic County that no one is above the law not even those sworn to uphold it."

At his plea hearing, Souto admitted that beginning in about August 2007, he repeatedly stole multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine from the Sheriff's Department evidence vault and arranged for the delivery of the cocaine to other co-conspirators' who, in turn, would arrange for distribution of the narcotics in Passaic County and elsewhere.

Souto was first arrested in March on charges brought by the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, which then referred the matter for federal prosecution and has continued to assist in the investigation. Souto told Judge Linares that he was assigned to the Sheriff's Department Evidence Bureau and had 24-hour access to the evidence vault. Among the procedures he supervised was the destruction of evidence after a case and its related appeals were completed. Destruction of drugs occurred during scheduled "drug burns," according to Souto.

Souto admitted that he falsely listed quantities of cocaine to be destroyed during scheduled drug burns. He said he would steal the drugs from the evidence vault during non-operating hours by opening evidence bags, taking out drugs and substituting sugar into the bags before resealing them with tape to conceal the theft.

Souto admitted that he transported the stolen cocaine to a pre-arranged location in Haledon for his co-conspirators to pick up and sell later. For his involvement in the conspiracy, Souto admitted that he received shares of the drug-sale proceeds of at least $250,000, an amount he agreed to forfeit under the terms of his plea agreement.

The charge to which Souto pleaded guilty ordinarily carries a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison, as well a maximum fine of $4 million. However, the judge determined that certain factors made Souto eligible for the so-called "safety valve" provision that a sentence below the mandatory minimum of 10 years.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all of that time.

Marra credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun, for the investigation of Souto. He also credited for their assistance in the investigation prosecutors and investigators with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, under the direction of Prosecutor James F. Avigliano, and investigators with the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, under the direction of Sheriff Jerry Speziale. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Gramiccioni of the U.S. Attorney's Office Special Prosecutions Division.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

[adymond]

So he got 7 years for trying to sell almost 100 pounds of coke and almost a pound of heroin. Anyone else see a problem with this?

[thatJeffguy]

So he got 7 years for trying to sell almost 100 pounds of coke and almost a pound of heroin. Anyone else see a problem with this?

And I'm sure he'll be in a nice protected cell with his Brother in Blue helping him out on the inside...

of course, if we LEGALIZED drugs....

But, until then, their should be a charge like "Betrayal of public trust by an officer", that multiplies every sentence handed to them for malfeasance on duty by ten.

[adymond]

And I'm sure he'll be in a nice protected cell with his Brother in Blue helping him out on the inside...

of course, if we LEGALIZED drugs....

But, until then, their should be a charge like "Betrayal of public trust by an officer", that multiplies every sentence handed to them for malfeasance on duty by ten.

Or prosecute him on ALL the charges that you or I would face for trying to distribute 100 freaking pounds of coke and a pound of heroin. That is an INSANE quantity.

[bogey1]

So he got 7 years for trying to sell almost 100 pounds of coke and almost a pound of heroin. Anyone else see a problem with this?

yeah, i do. an old friend of mine did 11 years for selling one pound of weed in a school zone. that was about 20 or so years ago.

[adymond]

yeah, i do. an old friend of mine did 11 years for selling one pound of weed in a school zone. that was about 20 or so years ago.

I wonder if there are any other cases where a defendant had as much weight as this guy and what they ended up with.

[stephpd]

Friggin' plea bargains!

Just one charge? For all the crimes he committed in this one enterprise he should be there for life plus.

7 years is just one more crime that's being committed. Hell, he'll be out well before turning 50.

[Eugene V. Debs]

And I'm sure he'll be in a nice protected cell with his Brother in Blue helping him out on the inside...

of course, if we LEGALIZED drugs....

But, until then, their should be a charge like "Betrayal of public trust by an officer", that multiplies every sentence handed to them for malfeasance on duty by ten.

Yep. Seven years wouldn't be too bad of a sentence if he didn't get the luxury of serving it in seg, which you know damn well he's gonna. I'm against putting convicted cops or child molesters in seg before anything's even happened to them-- the only convicts the courts or correctional system should award seg to are informants, not because they deserve it but because there's a compelling state interest to do so. There may be other justifications for awarding seg to convicts, but not just because they used to be a government employee or because of the type of crime they committed.

You're a crooked cop? Tough shit, you do your time in general pop just like the rest of us would. It pisses me off that those who should be held to a higher standard of the law are frequently held to a lower one. Remember those police officers who emptied their mags into Amadou Diallo and got off? If I unloaded 15 rounds into an unarmed guy and my buddy unloaded another 15 rounds, how much you wanna bet that a defense of "but I thought he was reaching for a gun" wouldn't cut it?

[thatJeffguy]

Yep. Seven years wouldn't be too bad of a sentence if he didn't get the luxury of serving it in seg, which you know damn well he's gonna.

Yup. Seven years, which will probably equate to about three years hard time, four years probation, in a private cell, all the amenities, nice and safe.

I'm against putting convicted cops or child molesters in seg before anything's even happened to them-- the only convicts the courts or correctional system should award seg to are informants, not because they deserve it but because there's a compelling state interest to do so.

Agreed. Besides, if child molesters do get killed inside, does anyone really care? :-)

[larrymeyer]

They could put in with the guys from this thread. This prison is also in NJ

http://forum.pafoa.org/national-11/59916-state-nj.html