Law & Justice & crime firegeezer on 19 Jul 2008 09:09 am
Firehouse Drug Dealers Sentenced
“Crime and Punishment Week” wraps up….hopefully.
THREE FORMER NEW ORLEANS FIREFIGHTERS WERE SENTENCED THURSDAY along with a fourth man to varying lengths of prison terms for operating a drug ring.
After a long period of surveillance and evidence-gathering in 2007, the four were arrested and indicted last November. Faced with overwhelming evidence, they all pled guilty on April 10 and 11 of this year.
The three firefighters, Eddie Sandifer, Milton Joseph and Aaron White acted along with Damon Burkhalter to sell heroin to purchasers at White’s house and also on the premises of several fire stations in the city.
WRNO radio reports:
2 of the firefighters, 22-year-old Eddie Sandifer III and 25-year-old Milton Joseph IV pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute drugs.
The third firefighter, 24-year-old Aaron White pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug-involved premises in the 1400 block of N. Derbigny Street.
A co-defendant, 40-year-old Damon Burkhalter, who pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin, drew the longest sentence of nearly 22 years in prison, because he was found to be a “career offender” based on seven prior convictions.
Joseph was sentenced to 10 years in prison, White was ordered to serve 3 years and Sandifer drew a sentence of 18 months.
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C & P Week is almost wrapped up, anyway:
Former Fire Chief Sentenced For Embezzling
From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Bruce Sames, former fire chief of Prior Lake, was sentenced in Scott County on Friday for embezzling more than $13,000 from Fire Department bank accounts.
He was sentenced to up to five years’ probation, 15 days in jail and 30 days’ community service. He is also being ordered to have a gambling assessment done.
Sames, 49, of Jordan, had been part-time fire chief since 1997. He took money from the department over a period of one year. Fire Department treasurer Brian Davis first noticed the discrepancies when he gave a $50 check to Sames for a firefighter recognition dinner, but when the checking account’s monthly statement arrived, the check amount had changed to $5,500.
Sames told county sheriff’s detectives that he had intended to repay the money, but his construction business had been slow and he had financial problems because of gambling and a divorce.
