There are things you shouldn’t do when you’re the police chief. Stealing the Xboxes that the FBI planted in a car because they thought you were dirty is on that list.
Former East Saint Louis police chief Michael Baxton please guilty to doing just that yesterday.
From the Belleville News Democrat’s story of Baxton’s plea:
The federal agents decided to test Baxton, and on Oct. 5 they used a federal vehicle as a bait car. They bought five Xbox 360 gaming systems for $US400 each, put them in the trunk and reported the car as stolen from Columbia.
Baxton responded to the call about an abandoned vehicle with an Alorton officer.
“Unbeknownst to Baxton, the unnamed officer voluntarily came forward to report other acts of misconduct occurring in Alorton and had been assisting the federal investigation from its inception. The unnamed officer was equipped with covert surveillance devices at the time of the theft – and he audio and video recorded the entire incident,” the government’s document stated.
When he found the gaming systems, Baxton directed the other officer to put four of them in Baxton’s trunk, take the fifth for himself and destroy the box it came in. The court record states Baxton gave away three of the Xbox systems and kept one for himself.
Baxton is facing up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $US500,000.
Baxton pleads guilty to stealing Xbox systems in federal sting operation [BND.com]
Blood Apathy
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:22 AMdouche!
Ultimater2
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:25 AMWould he have stolen them if they were PS3′s
Bob
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:33 AMYes, don’t be silly.
Ry34
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:37 AMhad they have been Wii consoles, they would have been left untouched.
NotheMama
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:50 AMBecause every man & his dog already owns one….
draus
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 2:01 PMand sits on their shelf collecting dust
Mr Waffle
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 12:35 PMI thought it was the Coast Guard who policed the police?
Xgen
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 1:33 PMlol i almost choked on my lunch
Zac
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 1:03 PMJust goes to show that some people will do anything to get ahead
klanky
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 3:51 PMI am not really seeing what is so bad about this, honestly, the bloke thought the car was abandoned, as in from a sketchy guy who could have been a drug dealer or y’know criminal, what ever, and when you see some shiny new electronics in there, what are you gonna do with em? It would look like the owner of the car stole them. He didn’t sell them, he gave them away, albeit keeping 1 for himself. Why were the FBI ‘testing’ him anyway?
James
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 6:09 PMIf the consoles had belonged to the owner of the car, the the officer would have been stealing them. If instead, the owner of the car had stolen the consoles, then the officer would have been handling stolen merchandise. In both cases the consoles were owned by someone and he was breaking the law.
As far as the FBI “testing” him goes, presumably this wasn’t an isolated incident.
Excelsior
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:23 AMIt’s bad cos he’s a police officer abusing his position for personal gain.
He must’ve had a lot of stuff go “missing” in order for the FBI to probe the Chief of Police!
Steve
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 9:25 PMIt’s like Herc and Carver from The Wire. Only instead of wads of cash, he gets busted on some consoles. How embarrassing.