The former deputy police chief of DeKalb County declared that “no one should sell their badge” and admitted he’d done just that.
Donald Frank was sentenced Thursday to three years and seven months in prison for conspiring to take bribes from an Atlanta businessman. But before that happened, U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey had plenty to say, and Frank didn’t disagree with any of it.
Duffey reminded Frank of the day he took his oath of office and swore to uphold the law. Over the next two decades, as Frank rose through the ranks from sergeant to lieutenant to head of the county’s homeland security division and finally to deputy chief, there were many young officers who looked up to Frank as an example, the judge said.
“You were in a unique position to have a positive influence, not only in the police department but in your community,” Duffey said. “It’s a position you uniquely abused.”
As he spoke, Duffey looked down at Frank, who was in a wheelchair because of injuries from a motorcycle accident. All the while, Frank kept his gaze on Duffey, never looking away.
Every time the judge made a point, such as when he said, “You know this is serious. You know you have to be held accountable,” Frank nodded his head in agreement.
Earlier Thursday, Duffey sentenced businessman Amin Budhwani to 20 months in prison. Budhwani, who owned gas stations and convenience stores, pleaded guilty to bribing Frank and former DeKalb Police Lt. Willie Daren Durrett, who will be sentenced Friday.
Budhwani wined and dined Frank at fine restaurants and strip clubs, gave him thousands of dollars in payoffs and bankrolled trips to casinos. In return, Frank made threatening calls to Budhwani’s mistress at the businessman’s behest, strong-armed Budhwani’s employees into paying back money they owed, and got DeKalb police to follow one of Budhwani’s business partners to make him feel so threatened he’d want to leave the country, prosecutors said.
Frank, a former U.S. Marine who once headed former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones’ security detail, received leniency for testifying against Durrett at a trial in July. A number of former colleagues, friends and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who first got to know Frank while serving as a DeKalb magistrate judge, wrote letters to Duffey asking for mercy.
Duffey told Frank that his acts will make people wonder whether police officers can be trusted. He sentenced Frank to serve 100 hours of community service after he is released from prison and asked him to go out into the community, tell his story and accept responsibility for what he’d done.
“No one can punish me more than I’ve already punished myself,” Frank, 49, told Duffey. “I wholly recognize my unbelievable wrongdoings.”
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