A former officer has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for giving police information and equipment to civilians who robbed drug dealers in Memphis, Tennessee, prosecutors said.
Former Memphis Police Officer Sam Blue, 63, pleaded guilty in January 2020 to conspiracy to violate civil rights by using force, violence and intimidation, and conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce
Blue was sentenced to the prison sentence, plus three years of probation, on Tuesday, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
From 2014 to 2018, Blue conspired with others to rob drug dealers. Blue gave robbers home addresses for targets. He also provided robbers with an official Memphis Police Department badge and a car dashboard blue light.
In 2018, several men put on fake police uniforms and used a blue police dashboard light to stop Eric Cain near his apartment, prosecutors said. Attackers handcuffed, kidnapped and tortured Cain, demanding to know where he kept his drugs and money.
Cain escaped and spent a week in the hospital.