Initially charged with crimes that could have brought him up to 65 years in federal prison, former Ohio sheriff’s Maj. Eric Spicer, found guilty in December of illegal possession of a machine gun, will get 5 years probation.

Late of the Greene County Sheriff’s office, Spicer, 45, was charged last April with using falsified documents to illegally obtain a machine gun from a New York firearms dealer. In all, the U.S. Attorney’s office brought seven charges against the former law enforcement officer, of which a jury in U.S. District Court in December agreed that two should stick.

Federal prosecutors in the case last month sought a 41 to 51 month sentence while the U.S. Probation Office in turn recommended two years behind bars.

In the end, Spicer is receiving considerably less.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett handed down a sentence Monday of 100 hours community service, a $1,800 fine, and five years’ probation, the Dayton Daily News reported. In addition, due to his conviction, the former lawman will be classified as a prohibited possessor, stripping his rights to have firearms.

The former police chief in Falmouth stole thousands of dollars from a drug task force account, according to an indictment announced Wednesday by Attorney General Jack Conway's office.

A grand jury charged Mark Lane Posey with abuse of public trust involving more than $10,000, theft involving a gun, 70 counts of criminal possession of a forged check, and theft by deception.

All the charges are felonies except theft by deception.

Posey, 46, of Cynthiana, was indicted Tuesday in Franklin County and arrested Wednesday, according to a news release from Conway.

The indictment said that from March 2008 to December 2014, Posey allegedly solicited donations from local businesses to investigate drug cases, then he wrote checks from the account to get cash and kept it.

Posey allegedly forged the name of a co-signer to take money from the account, according to the news release.

He also allegedly bought a gun with city money and then sold it to a friend for a higher amount.

The charge under state law specifies an amount over $10,000, but the indictment listed about $19,000 that Posey allegedly stole.

Posey was police chief in the Pendleton County seat from March 2008 until he resigned Feb. 5.

Conway's office investigated the case and will handle the prosecution.

Posey was being held in the Franklin County Regional Jail, with bond set at $10,000.

He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Officer Pedro Abad, a six-year veteran of the department, was charged with driving while intoxicated and careless driving in Roselle in January 2011, borough police confirmed. Abad was also charged with driving under the influence, DWI in a school zone, and refusal to submit to a chemical test for a crash in Rahway on Feb. 26, 2013, according to police records.

Earlier today, NJ Advance Media reported he had lost his license as a result of a 2013 DUI.

In all, Abad, 27, was in eight accidents from September 2005 to June 2013, according to state records. He received violations in only two of those accidents, the records show.

Despite the fact that all three patrol cars had fire extinguishers on hand, none of the agents attempted to put out the fire and save the driver.

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According to the family's attorney Gene Iredale, at no point did the men in the video, who were dressed in plain clothes, identify themselves as Border Patrol, meaning Martin had no idea of knowing they were law enforcement agents.

Iredale says the agents should have smelled the liquid from a gas canister that had spilled into the car and refrained from using a taser.

he owner of a Detroit recycling business filed a federal lawsuit against the city and is asking a judge for a restraining order against a police officer whom he said planted evidence — and the businessman is basing his claim on his own surveillance video.

Joe Fawaz, owner of Southwest Metals, told WJBK-TV that Detroit police sergeant Rebecca McKay can be seen on video “miraculously” pulling Detroit Edison copper wire from a room full of scrap on his premises. It’s against the law in Michigan to buy or sell stolen DTE copper cable.

Nevada’s top judge recently had to appear before state lawmakers asking for more money for the state Supreme Court, apparently because law enforcement officers aren’t writing enough traffic tickets.

Chief Justice James Hardesty testified before a joint Senate Finance and Ways and Means subcommittee, during which he told the panel that the court needed $700,000 by May 1 or it will be out of money. “Do you want me to close the judicial branch of government at the state level on May 1?” Hardesty said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He added that law enforcement is not generating the same amount of revenue from traffic tickets as it once did, and that’s robbing the high court of funds for operations. “I’m not faulting law enforcement; either they are understaffed or they have changed policies,” Hardesty said. “Now with all due respect to the citizens of Nevada, I don’t think anyone is driving better. I think the truth is that we’re seeing less traffic violations because law enforcement’s priorities have changed and it has changed dramatically.” The Review-Journal reported that ticket citations are down 21% since 2010, from 615,267 statewide then to 484,913 last year.

The link between traffic tickets and funding for government agencies is also apparent in other states. In Illinois, speeding tickets and other vehicular violations produce money for the state budget, with very little of the revenue going to local governments where police are operating and giving out the tickets. But with so little of the citation revenue going to cities or counties, there’s been less incentive to give out tickets, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Compare that to neighboring Missouri. The Show-Me State wants drivers to show them the money, having the second-highest per capita ticketing rate in the country at 36 per 100 residents, according to the Post-Dispatch. New Jersey has a higher rate, but most of its violations are parking-related, which isn’t the case in Missouri.

The excessive ticketing is one of the complaints of residents of Ferguson, where teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by city police last year. That city is projected to bring in more than $3 million this year in fines, thanks to 11,822 tickets being written last year in a city whose population is 21,111. Ferguson’s money grab is being helped by judges who sometimes also work as prosecutors and add fines and fees to many cases.

Gov. Jay Nixon earlier this month called on municipalities to eliminate their “profit motive.”

An Orlando police officer has been arrested on charges of felony battery amid allegations he used excessive force against a man in custody.

Officer Peter Delio was caught on surveillance video kneeing a man in the stomach while he was sitting in a holding cell in August of 2014.

According to his arrest report, Delio could be heard on the video saying, "get up scumbag, do you want to be a tough guy?"

The man, identified as Robert Liese, was injured so badly he had to undergo surgery for a ruptured spleen.

OPD orally reprimanded Delio for the conduct and suspended him without pay for a week.

"I was disappointed in the actions of the officer and that's why internally he was found at fault for mistreatment of handcuffed prisoners," said Orlando Police Chief John Mina.

The results of the department's internal investigation were turned over to the FDLE for their review.

On Monday, FDLE decided to pursue criminal charges of excessive use of force against Delio.

of Judge Frederic Schott becoming angry with a prosecutor during a hearing in Seminole County.

The exchange between Schott and Assistant State Attorney Diana Miers happened on March 11 and was captured on courtroom video.

A jury had just found a woman guilty of driving under the influence when the attorneys and judge started discussing the woman's license suspension. The Sanford police officer who made the arrest caused the defendant to lose her driver's license for a few months because of a mistake on the arrest paperwork.

"Are you going to nolle pros that case? Or am I going to get mad at you today?" Schott asked.

The judge and Miers got into a heated argument because he wanted the police officer to be charged with lying.

"I want you taking him up on perjury," Schott said.

"He admitted it was a mistake, your honor," Miers said.

After the exchange, Schott decided to reverse the jury's verdict to not guilty.

"This whole case was fishy," Schott said.

Miers tried to argue against Schott's dismissal of the case but he didn't agree.

A former East Moline police officer was sentenced Friday to 12 months conditional discharge for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his former mother-in-law.

Joseph DeCap, 49, of Hampton pleaded guilty in Rock Island County Circuit Court to one count of financial exploitation of the elderly, a Class 2 felony that carried a possible prison sentence of four to 15 years.

He also was ordered to pay $3,900 in restitution and court costs.

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Joseph DeCap took approximately $30,000 from the account without permission and spent the money on his own bills and unknown items, according to court documents.

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The official misconduct charges stem from incidents as early as 2007. An investigation began in September 2011 when the police department was notified that he might have been involved in a suspicious transaction involving the sale of a vehicle.

According to court documents, DeCap authorized the tow of a vehicle and salvaged it for the benefit of another person on two occasions.

Between December 2010 and July 2011, DeCap “obligated” two people to sell him a 2011 Jeep Cherokee that he had towed for illegal parking, according to court documents.

Henderson officials said Tuesday they are investigating how city police had 96 traffic citations wrongly thrown out of court — including at least one ticket received by a friend or relative of a police employee.

Two City Council members, Debra March and Sam Bateman, called for more investigation to determine whether employees did anything wrong.

Bateman, a county prosecutor in his day job, said he was concerned at the possibility of someone getting special treatment in court.

“You need to be fair and impartial, and certain folks shouldn’t get a benefit that other folks don’t get,” Bateman said.

Both Bateman and March are seeking re-election this spring.

City Manager Jacob Snow said it’s too early to say whether any employees will be disciplined.

“We’ve got, at this point, more questions than we have answers,” Snow said Tuesday.

Police said Monday they had no evidence of officer wrongdoing, despite the audit’s finding that one ticket was voided for “Family/Friends of HPD,” meaning the Henderson Police Department.

But after further questions from the Review-Journal on Tuesday, police spokeswoman Michelle French said in an email: “The Family/Friends of HPD is not acceptable under our policy. The Police Department is looking into what happened.”

Under state law, dismissing a ticket for an unauthorized reason could constitute misconduct of a public officer, a felony punishable by a year in jail.

The audit found that police had tickets voided after they had been filed with the Henderson Municipal Court by simply sending a form to court staff. That’s illegal under state law, which says only a judge can throw a ticket out once it’s been filed in court.

4.707 Pedestrians. (1) No person shall block or interfere with, or attempt to block or interfere with, any person along a public sidewalk by any means, including but not limited to standing on that part of the sidewalk used for pedestrian travel or placing any object or vehicle in such area, with the intent to interfere with free passage. (2) No person shall block or interfere with, or attempt to block or interfere with, pedestrian or vehicular entrances to public or private property abutting a public sidewalk with the intent to interfere with the free ingress to or egress from such property. (3) This section shall not apply to any activity otherwise made lawful including, but not limited to, lawful protesting activity and lawful picketing activity.

...person is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime...