Former Minneapolis Police Officer Sentenced for Unauthorized Access to a Protected Computer, Filing False Income Tax Returns

A former Minneapolis Police officer was sentenced today in federal court on one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer and three counts of filing false tax returns.

On Sept. 22 in St. Paul, United States District Court Judge Richard Kyle sentenced Michael D. Roberts, 59, to 12 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for his crimes. Roberts was indicted on July 14, 2008, and pleaded guilty on May 14, 2009, four days into his trial.

In entering his plea, Roberts admitted that while working off duty as a security guard during August 2007, he used a police radio to obtain non-public information from the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services database. He also admitted the data search was not law enforcement related; he received $100 in cash from the person requesting the search; and he concealed both these facts from the Minneapolis Police Department.

Specifically, on Aug. 14, 2007, Roberts met with a man who identified himself as a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang. That man asked Roberts to find out information regarding a member of a rival gang as well as determine if anyone had provided information about him to law enforcement. The meeting took place in Roberts’ squad car, and Roberts used the car’s computer to obtain the requested information. When the meeting ended, the man gave $100 in cash to Roberts, who later filed a false police report concerning the incident.

In his plea agreement, Roberts also admitted he worked off-duty security jobs for several businesses and was paid in excess of 100,000 in cash between 2004 and April 2008. Roberts failed to report or pay taxes to the Internal Revenue Service on that income for tax years 2004 through 2007. Roberts also failed to report the money he was paid in exchange for illegally obtaining confidential law enforcement information. He pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for the tax years 2004 through 2007.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Minneapolis Police Department and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tim Rank and Christian S. Wilton.

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