By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — As an Atlanta policeman, Daniel Betts racked up arrests by the hundreds, capturing some of the city’s most wanted criminals. But he also looked up to and took guidance from other officers who were among the department’s most corrupt.
After looking at Betts’ career and his good works in totality, a federal judge bucked prosecutors’ recommendation that the former officer serve prison time on extortion charges. Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Carnes sentenced Betts, 26, to three years’ probation, including six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service.
“This is no victory for you,” Carnes told the sobbing Betts after she imposed the sentence. “It’s a sad thing. You will have a felony record. This is a blight on you.”
Betts, whose parents once served on the force and pleaded for leniency at Monday’s hearing, served almost five years as an Atlanta officer before resigning and pleading guilty to accepting payoffs.
He was ensnared in the ongoing federal investigation that began after the fatal shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in 2006.
Former narcotics Officer Gregg Junnier, whom Betts said he looked up to on the force, began cooperating in the federal investigation after pleading guilty last year to his role in the killing.
According to prosecutors, Junnier received illegal payments for providing security to local businesses while on duty, and Betts took over some of this work after Junnier entered his guilty plea.
Betts, who earned about $39,000 a year as an officer, collected monthly security fees of $120 from an apartment complex, which he split with another officer. He was ordered by Carnes to pay $1,200 in restitution to the complex.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said Betts would push drug dealers and other criminals away from the businesses that paid for protection onto others who simply expected the police to be doing their jobs. “He is anything but a dupe in this particular case,” Erskine said of Betts.
Betts cooperated with investigators after his arrest, even wearing a hidden recording device.
But Erskine still recommended a sentence of about 10 months in prison.
Betts’ father, retired Sgt. Tom Betts, told Carnes he was a 27-year veteran of the Atlanta police force and a three-time officer of the year. He said his son had worked with the mentally ill and with children and was a good candidate for community service. “I never expected this would happen,” he said.
Carnes agreed with Betts’ lawyer, William McKenney, that other officers, such as those paid to provide police escorts at the NBA All-Star game while on duty, are not prosecuted for these types of offenses. Betts’ crimes also pale next to those who admitted to lying on a search warrant and committing the botched raid that led to Johnston’s death, she said.
It is “certainly bad” to give some people in the community the impression that others have better access to police protection if they can pay extra for it, Carnes said. While Betts became a police officer to do good, Carnes said she suspected he did not have the backbone to turn down the extra money that was already being illegally obtained by his superiors.
“It’s a very sad situation,” the judge said.
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution