He has served about 16 months in the conspiracy case.
A former Tulsa police officer won't serve any more prison time for engaging in a criminal conspiracy, obstructing justice and giving unlawful notice of a search warrant while he worked for the Police Department.
As first reported Wednesday on tulsaworld.com, Rico Yarbrough was sentenced to time served after pleading guilty July 18 to the same charges on which he was convicted two years ago.
Yarbrough, 44, originally was sentenced in November 2006 to three years and eight months in prison. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that opinion on June 3, saying the trial judge should have let jurors hear more evidence about Yarbrough's character.
Yarbrough, who resigned from the police force in April 2006, began serving his sentence in mid-March 2007 and was released June 30.
U.S. District Judge James Payne, who was not the trial judge, said during Wednesday's hearing that Yarbrough already has served a punishment that was "sufficient but not greater" than called for under the law.
Payne ordered, however, that Yarbrough be under court supervision for three years.
Yarbrough apologized to the court Wednesday for his "poor decision-making."
Later, he said only that "I'm glad it's over."
His attorney, Rob Nigh, said the nearly 16 months that his client already has served were "more than enough."
Nigh said Yarbrough made "a very serious mistake and paid for it with a substantial part of his life."
He said Yarbrough took college courses while in custody and plans to pursue a career in heating and air conditioning.
U.S. Attorney David O'Meilia said Wednesday that his office is satisfied with the sentence. Both O'Meilia and Nigh said that under sentencing guidelines, Yarbrough would have faced only four more days in custody if Payne had imposed punishment at the bottom of the applicable range.
Even though Yarbrough pleaded guilty to the same charges that prompted a 44-month sentence in 2006, the sentencing span called for in his July plea agreement was 18 to 24 months.
That's because Yarbrough received credit for acceptance of responsibility this time and also received less punishment for obstruction of justice. O'Meilia and Nigh agreed that "good time" credit earned by Yarbrough while in custody reduced the 18-month level even further.
Last Thursday, Payne sentenced former Tulsa Police Department employee Deshon Stanley to five months in prison after she pleaded guilty in February 2007 to conspiring to leak confidential information about a witness to a prison inmate.
Stanley, 33, also pleaded guilty to six counts dealing with a tax-fraud scheme that her plea agreement says cost the Internal Revenue Service more than $137,000.
Stanley, who was fired in April 2006 from her civilian job as an office administrator in the Police Department Records Room, will begin her prison sentence by Jan. 15. She will be under court supervision for three years after her release and must pay more than $134,000 in penalties.
Officially, the cases of Stanley and Yarbrough were unrelated. However, it was revealed during Yarbrough's trial that the two had a mutual acquaintance — a Broken Arrow man named Kejuan Lavell Daniels, 35.
Daniels pleaded guilty in July to participating in a conspiracy from December 2002 until 2006 that involved 100 to 150 kilograms of cocaine. His sentencing is slated Jan. 14.
Daniels had been under investigation since 2004 for suspected cocaine-trafficking, according to the FBI. Prosecutors alleged that Yarbrough was in regular contact with Daniels and kept him informed about the progress of the investigation into Daniels' activities.
In July, Yarbrough admitted conspiring with Daniels to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation.
He also admitted that on Feb. 10, 2006, he called a third man to warn Daniels that a search warrant was about to be executed at Daniels' Broken Arrow home.
A former Tulsa police officer won't serve any more prison time for engaging in a criminal conspiracy, obstructing justice and giving unlawful notice of a search warrant while he worked for the Police Department.
As first reported Wednesday on tulsaworld.com, Rico Yarbrough was sentenced to time served after pleading guilty July 18 to the same charges on which he was convicted two years ago.
Yarbrough, 44, originally was sentenced in November 2006 to three years and eight months in prison. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that opinion on June 3, saying the trial judge should have let jurors hear more evidence about Yarbrough's character.
Yarbrough, who resigned from the police force in April 2006, began serving his sentence in mid-March 2007 and was released June 30.
U.S. District Judge James Payne, who was not the trial judge, said during Wednesday's hearing that Yarbrough already has served a punishment that was "sufficient but not greater" than called for under the law.
Payne ordered, however, that Yarbrough be under court supervision for three years.
Yarbrough apologized to the court Wednesday for his "poor decision-making."
Later, he said only that "I'm glad it's over."
His attorney, Rob Nigh, said the nearly 16 months that his client already has served were "more than enough."
Nigh said Yarbrough made "a very serious mistake and paid for it with a substantial part of his life."
He said Yarbrough took college courses while in custody and plans to pursue a career in heating and air conditioning.
U.S. Attorney David O'Meilia said Wednesday that his office is satisfied with the sentence. Both O'Meilia and Nigh said that under sentencing guidelines, Yarbrough would have faced only four more days in custody if Payne had imposed punishment at the bottom of the applicable range.
Even though Yarbrough pleaded guilty to the same charges that prompted a 44-month sentence in 2006, the sentencing span called for in his July plea agreement was 18 to 24 months.
That's because Yarbrough received credit for acceptance of responsibility this time and also received less punishment for obstruction of justice. O'Meilia and Nigh agreed that "good time" credit earned by Yarbrough while in custody reduced the 18-month level even further.
Last Thursday, Payne sentenced former Tulsa Police Department employee Deshon Stanley to five months in prison after she pleaded guilty in February 2007 to conspiring to leak confidential information about a witness to a prison inmate.
Stanley, 33, also pleaded guilty to six counts dealing with a tax-fraud scheme that her plea agreement says cost the Internal Revenue Service more than $137,000.
Stanley, who was fired in April 2006 from her civilian job as an office administrator in the Police Department Records Room, will begin her prison sentence by Jan. 15. She will be under court supervision for three years after her release and must pay more than $134,000 in penalties.
Officially, the cases of Stanley and Yarbrough were unrelated. However, it was revealed during Yarbrough's trial that the two had a mutual acquaintance — a Broken Arrow man named Kejuan Lavell Daniels, 35.
Daniels pleaded guilty in July to participating in a conspiracy from December 2002 until 2006 that involved 100 to 150 kilograms of cocaine. His sentencing is slated Jan. 14.
Daniels had been under investigation since 2004 for suspected cocaine-trafficking, according to the FBI. Prosecutors alleged that Yarbrough was in regular contact with Daniels and kept him informed about the progress of the investigation into Daniels' activities.
In July, Yarbrough admitted conspiring with Daniels to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation.
He also admitted that on Feb. 10, 2006, he called a third man to warn Daniels that a search warrant was about to be executed at Daniels' Broken Arrow home.
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