St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Sentenced on Federal Corruption Charges
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 09, 2009 |
ST. LOUIS, MO—Bobby Garrett was sentenced to 28 months in prison on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, making false statements and theft of government funds, Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap announced today. He will also be ordered to pay restitution, the amount to be determined within the next 10 days.
“Mr. Garrett crossed over the line from protecting and serving, to instead use his badge and authority to commit criminal acts. For his crimes he is going to prison for over two years,” said Reap. “Fortunately, this is an isolated incident, and we should recognize the efforts of law enforcement officers throughout the region who continue to risk their lives on a daily basis so that the public can be safe.”
Bobby Lee Garrett, Leo Liston and Vincent Carr were police detectives employed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, assigned to the Crime Suppression Unit. Officers assigned to the Crime Suppression Unit typically handled investigations involving auto theft, burglary, illegal narcotics sales, and firearms offenses, and usually carried out their duties while working in plain clothes and unmarked cars.
According to statements made in court by Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith at the time of the guilty plea, Garrett aided and abetted other officers acting with him in stealing money from a purported drug courier they stopped on September 18, 2007, and failed to properly report the stop and seizure in order to conceal their actions. Further, in a June 6, 2008 drug raid, Garrett stole money, lied on police reports about the drug raid, and took other actions to conceal the theft, including falsely arresting and charging an individual relative to the drug raid. Garrett later lied to a representative of the United States Attorney’s Office and FBI agents investigating the incident in order to conceal his criminal conduct. In an unrelated June 11, 2008 drug raid, Garrett and other officers working with him seized approximately $12,000 in cash, but only reported approximately $4,000 of the seized cash to the police department. The remaining approximately $8,000 was misapplied by Garrett and the other officers, and a false police report was prepared in order to conceal their criminal conduct.
"Bobby Garrett was the worst of the worst," said Roland J. Corvington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in St. Louis. "Garrett not only betrayed the citizens he had sworn to protect, he actually encouraged other officers to commit crimes."
Garrett, 49, St. Louis County, plead guilty last August to one felony count of embezzlement of government property, one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one felony count of wire fraud, two felony counts of making false statements and one felony count of misapplication of government funds. He appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge E. Richard Webber.
Co-defendants Vincent Carr, 47, St. Louis, and Leo Liston, 35, St. Louis, previously pleaded guilty to related charges and have been sentenced.
Reap commended the work on the case by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith, who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.