FIVE DEFENDANTS INCLUDING FORMER JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA POLICE
OFFICERS SENTENCED ON MURDER AND OTHER FELONIES

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Five defendants, including former Jacksonville, Florida, deputy sheriff's officers were sentenced yesterday in connection with a crime spree in which several Jacksonville area citizens were victimized, and involved a home invasion, abductions, robberies, and the murder of a Jacksonville-area businessman, the Justice Department announced today.

The defendants include convicted co-conspirators Aric Sinclair, Jason Pough and Reginald Bones, former Jacksonville sheriff officers. According to trial testimony, the officers, acting under color of law, abused their powers in order to abduct, rob and subsequently murder Jacksonville convenience store owner, Sami Safar. Sinclair was sentenced to 17 years and seven months in prison, 5 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay over $108,000 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. Pough was sentenced to five years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $500 in restitution to his victims. Bones was sentenced on bank fraud charges unrelated to the case and given three years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay back $11,000 in restitution to the bank fraud victims.

Defendants Kenneth McLaughlin, James Swift, Jr., and Darryl Crowden, were participants in various crimes with the Jacksonville sheriff officers. McLaughlin, convicted of participating in the murder and kidnaping of the victim, was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $108,000 in restitution. Swift will be sentenced on Feb. 4, 2003. Crowden, convicted of robbery and drug offenses, received four years and three months in prison, five years supervised release and was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution to his victims.

Karl T. Waldon, a 39-year old Jacksonville sheriff's officer, charged in a 1998 indictment, and convicted by a jury in November 2002 for his role in the crime spree that resulted in the murder of Safar awaits sentencing on January 27, 2003.

The murder victim, Safar, owned convenience stores that cashed checks for customers. The indictment charges that Officer Sinclair worked as a security guard at a bank branch where Mr. Safar maintained accounts. Sinclair noted that the victim made large cash withdrawals from the bank on Fridays.

The indictment further states that on July 3, 1998, Karl T. Waldon ordered Swift and McLaughlin to act as lookouts in anticipation of Safar making a withdrawal from his bank. Once Waldon, who was in uniform and driving his marked police car, received the lookout call from his accomplices, he turned on his emergency lights and pulled over Safar. Waldon unlawfully took Safar into custody, handcuffing him and placing him in the back of the police car.

Safar was then driven to an isolated location, where Swift and McLaughlin joined Waldon. Waldon placed a rope around Safar's neck and choked him, rendering him unconscious. Waldon then took the driver's seat and ordered McLaughlin into the back seat to make sure Safar was dead. Waldon and his accomplices dumped Safar's body in a wooded area and stole $51,000 in cash withdrawals from him.

"This heinous crime of conspiracy, greed and police misconduct took the life of a community businessman and undermined the honorable work of law enforcement personnel everywhere," said Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Department will continue to prosecute the abuse of power by a small minority of law enforcement officers to ensure that the trust between law enforcement and communities remain strong."

The case was jointly prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida and the Civil Rights and Criminal Divisions of the Department of Justice. The case was investigated by a by a task force composed of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

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