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| NEWS > 02 November 2007 |
Other related articles:
Police union U-turn on drug-ch
Victoria's powerful police union has backflipped on a 2004 decision to deny funding to one of its former bosses in his fight against drug trafficking and bribery charges, for which he was acquitted in 2005.
The Police Association's quiet turnabout six weeks ago is the first of its type in the union's history. It means former detective and union vice-president Glenn Saunders will be reimbursed tens of thousands of dollars in union funds to pay for the lawyers he hired to fight corruption charges.
In 2004, the union's board unanimously decided to deny Mr Saunders funding af... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Hartford Courant - United Stat
02 November 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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New Haven Police Department, C
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In Bribery Case, Prison Expect
Three principals in the family-owned company that dominates the Greater New Haven bail bond business admitted Wednesday that they paid thousands of dollars in bribes to police officers. They are likely to be sentenced to from 18 months to three years in prison.
Robert Jacobs, 80, and his sons Paul, 49, and Philip, 47, are charged in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to commit bribery. The men, who operate Jacobs Bail Bonds, were arrested in March as a result of an FBI sting targeting police corruption in New Haven.
Collectively, the three men admitted paying $24,400 in bribes to former New Haven police Lt. William White and other unidentified officers, including a state police sergeant who, it has been revealed, was working as an undercover operative for the FBI.
Federal prosecutors have said the three paid White and others in law enforcement to track down criminal defendants who had absconded on Jacobs bail bonds - something police officers are expected to do routinely. If bail jumpers are not apprehended, bail bondsmen are customarily ordered to forfeit half or more of the bond to the state.
In addition, federal prosecutors said, the father and two sons expected that White "and other court personnel" would use their "official positions" to provide them with confidential information and other preferential treatment. The prosecutors would not elaborate.
Paul and Philip Jacobs face from 18 months to two years in prison under plea agreements negotiated with the U.S. attorney's office. Robert Jacobs, who authorities said played a greater role in structuring the conspiracy, faces from 30 to 37 months in prison.
All three men agreed to forfeit $750,000 in property to the federal government - property that prosecutors said was accumulated through their corrupt relationship with White and other officials. And, all three could be forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars in criminal fines.
They are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton on Feb. 27. In the meantime, their lawyers and state regulators can be expected to try to formulate some means of saving their business, which currently holds the bonds on thousands of criminal defendants.
Should the business abruptly cease operation and the bonded defendants be allowed to disappear, the Jacobs family and the insurers who back their bonds could suffer serious financial losses.
To date, White, two other police officers assigned to his now-disbanded narcotics unit, and Robert, Paul and Philip Jacobs have pleaded guilty to charges arising from the undercover FBI investigation. A senior FBI official said the investigation is continuing, but would not elaborate.
Under the terms revealed last week of White's plea agreement with federal prosecutors, he admitted taking more than $30,000 in cash he thought belonged to drug dealers on three occasions in 2006 and 2007 and splitting it with the state police undercover operative who was working with the FBI.
At another point during the FBI investigation, White boasted to an undercover officer, who secretly recorded the conversation, that he made "a ton of money ... over the years" from bail bondsmen.
While pleading guilty Friday, White admitted that he took the $24,400 from the Jacobs family in 2006 and 2007. He said he split it with the undercover state police officer.
While White ran the New Haven police drug squad, it was the subject of rumors that detectives illegally manipulated evidence to convict defendants. So far, legal documents introduced in court as part of White's prosecution reflect only one instance of detectives' manufacturing drug evidence to solidify a potential prosecution. The charges were dropped in that case, authorities said.
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