Former Zanesville Police Officer Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Drug Conspiracy and Firearms Crimes

COLUMBUS—Former Zanesville Police officer Sean W. Beck, 30, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 20 years imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to stage the fake arrest of a drug dealer in order to seize a kilogram of cocaine, sell it and split the profits with another man.

Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati, Muskingum County Sheriff Robert J. Stephenson, and Zanesville Police Chief Eric Lambes announced the sentence handed down today by United States District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.

In August 2007, Beck contacted a known Zanesville-area drug dealer to see if the dealer could arrange for the interception of drug deliveries. The drug dealer took the information to the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, who began investigating Beck.

The investigation included arranging a phony delivery of cocaine to a Zanesville cemetery. On September 25, 2007 Beck, Zanesville Police officer Trevor Fusner and auxiliary police officer Chad Mills met at the cemetery to conduct a false police “raid” on the anticipated delivery of the cocaine. Beck wore undercover police clothing, a bullet-proof vest, a “POLICE” t-shirt, and carried his service weapon. At the meeting, a confidential witness told Beck, Mills and Fusner that the dealer would not be showing up that night.

FBI agents arrested Beck, Fusner and Mills October 1, 2007. Beck, who has been in custody since his arrest, pleaded guilty on May 22, 2008 to one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm during a drug crime.

Fusner and Mills each pleaded guilty on December 13, 2007 to one count of conspiracy and one count of using a firearm in a drug crime and were each sentenced on June 12, 2008 to 80 months imprisonment.

Lockhart commended the cooperative investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and FBI agents, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Marous and David DeVillers who are prosecuting the case.