Former Savannah Police Chief Willie Lovett is scheduled to be released from federal prison on Friday after being incarcerated since 2014. Lovett, 72, was convicted and sentenced to 7.5 years behind bars for his role in a commercial gambling operation over a 14-year period.
Lovett was initially incarcerated in the U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., but according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website was most recently at Residential Reentry Management - Atlanta, a high-security reentry and treatment facility.
According to his sentencing, Lovett will serve three years of supervised release after leaving custody.
A U.S. District Court jury in Savannah convicted Lovett in 2014 on charges he took money over a 14-year period from Randall Wayne "Red" Roach to protect his Magic Midway carnival gambling operation.
Jurors also convicted Lovett of two counts of extortion and two counts of making false statements to FBI agents. The jurors acquitted Lovett of three extortion counts.
The government argued that Lovett and Roach worked together from 2004 until Sept. 27, 2013, when Lovett retired, to pay for protection from police while Roach cheated customers through such games as Razzle Dazzle, which gave players no chance to win.
The court found that Lovett received between $30,000 and $70,000 over the 14-year period. Lovett denied knowing that Roach was running a gambling operation.
Lovett was named chief in 2010 and abruptly announced his retirement from the department in 2013. He had been with SPD and its successor, the combined city-county department, for more than 40 years.
In 2015 the Georgia Attorney General's Office determined that Lovett was entitled to his $130,000 a year pension. Federal prosecutors garnished Lovett's pension to pay for more than $50,000 in fines and assessments stemming from his conviction and sentence.
Katie Nussbaum is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. Contact her at knussbaum@savannahnow.com. Twitter: KmartSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Former Savannah police chief Willie Lovett to be released from federal prison
