Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Donnell Young, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Scott Israel, Sheriff, Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), announce that Jeff Alan Poole, 47, of Weston, was sentenced today in Ft. Lauderdale by U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Poole was also ordered to pay $22,071.02 in restitution.

On May 8, 2014, Poole pled guilty to conspiracy to violate civil rights, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 241. At the time of the offense, the defendant was employed by BSO as a detective.

When he entered his guilty plea, the defendant admitted that he utilized his position within BSO unlawfully to arrest the ex-wife of an attorney who was engaged in a child custody dispute with her at the request of BSO Lt. David Benjamin. Poole also agreed at his guilty plea that this request emanated from Scott W. Rothstein, a former attorney who is now serving a 50-year sentence in connection with a Ponzi scheme which he had operated. On July 21, 2014, Benjamin was sentenced to a prison term of five years in connection with the Rothstein case.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, IRS-CI and BSO. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence D. LaVecchio, Paul F. Schwartz, and Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

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 www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.