A former Clayton County police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for conspiring to distribute cocaine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Dwayne Penn pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute over five kilograms in January.
In August 2013, Penn conspired with Adrian Austin, an Atlanta-based drug dealer, to use Penn’s official position as a police officer to stage a fake traffic stop of a car, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in an emailed statement. The duo believed the car contained six kilograms of cocaine and planned to conduct a fake arrest of the car’s occupant, seize the cocaine for themselves, and then sell the cocaine, sharing their ill-gotten gains, Yates said.
But the person whom Penn and Austin sought to recruit for the plan turned out to be an FBI informant.
“The public rightfully expects police officers to protect them from drug dealers, not go into business with them,” Yates said in an emailed statement. “The defendant crossed over to become one of the bad guys, and now he will suffer their fate.”
At the time, Penn was an officer with the Clayton County Police Department assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force.
Penn and Austin were arrested shortly after attempting to pull off the heist. Each had a loaded firearm with a round in the chamber, and a shopping bag with substituted cocaine was recovered from Penn's vehicle. On August 28, Penn was terminated from the Clayton County Police Department and the Marshals Service Task Force.
Austin pleaded guilty Jan. 14 and will be sentenced April 10, Yates’ office said.
In addition to prison time, Penn’s sentence also includes five years of supervised release, 120 hours of community service following his release from prison and a $100 special assessment.
About the Author
