A former Phoenix police officer was sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiring to rob motorists of cash and drugs during traffic stops and extorting people in exchange for declining to press charges or tow their vehicles, the US attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Antoine Larry, who is from Boilingbrook, was found guilty in January of bribery, conspiracy, extortion and attempted extortion after a two-week trial. Larry’s attorney, Beau Brindley, requested in a sentencing motion that Larry serve three years in prison, while federal prosecutors asked he serve nearly six years.
“He made terrible decisions in this case, based on poor judgment that he regrets,” Brindley wrote. “But while those decisions are obviously a part of the person he is, they do not define that person. On the whole, Mr. Larry is a law-abiding person who values his family and his community.”
Brindley did not respond to requests for comment.
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U.S. attorneys argued Larry’s crimes warranted a greater sentence as he repeatedly abused his power and betrayed “the public he was supposed to serve.”
“(Larry’s) illicit conduct harmed not just the individuals he stole from, solicited bribes from and extorted,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and Ramon Villalpando wrote in a sentencing motion. “Every corrupt act by a public official diminishes the trust that is essential to the proper function of our government.”
Another former Phoenix officer, Jarrett Snowden, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge before trial and is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 27, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release. Preliminary sentencing guidelines call for up to about 5½ years in prison for Snowden, but prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduced prison term in exchange for his cooperation, including testifying against Larry.
Snowden, of Lansing, was Larry’s sergeant when the two officers were charged in 2023 for agreeing to use their official powers and positions as officers to rob and extort people they pulled over in both Phoenix and the neighboring suburb of Harvey.
In a June 8 news release, Phoenix police Chief Roy Wells Sr. said the department supported the conviction of both Larry and Snowden, saying the two former officers “have brought shame and embarrassment to themselves and to the oath which they swore to uphold.”
“The deplorable actions of these two bad characters are not indicative of the upstanding men and women of our police force who continue to respect the letter of the law and people of the community,” the news release said.
The officers stole firearms, drugs and cash from targeted vehicles and their occupants as well as solicited cash payments in exchange for “reducing, dropping or declining to press charges” against the occupants, as well as allowing them to keep their vehicles instead of having them towed, according to the four-count indictment.
In some instances, Larry and Snowden arranged for the victims to meet them at a nearby gas station with bribe payments, the indictment alleged.
To conceal the conspiracy, the officers at times used a “bagman” to collect the payments, and also had an agreement to sell the narcotics they’d stolen to a drug dealer and split any proceeds from the eventual street sales 50/50, according to the indictment.
The trial also featured testimony from a handful of witnesses who said Larry and Snowden shook them down after traffic stops, mostly for minor or made up offenses.
One of them, Bernard Allison, told the jury Larry and Snowden offered to make gun and assault charges go away for $2,000 after he was stopped in 2021 and resisted arrest while trying to flee. Larry later gave him a warning, Allison said.
“He said if I was any other skin color he wouldn’t be helping me like this,” Allison testified. “He told me don’t try to turn him in to the police cause ain’t nothing was gonna happen. People had tried to turn him in before and he was still working as a police officer.”
The U.S. attorneys’ sentencing motion says Larry believed his status as a police officer would protect him from accountability for his crimes.
“(Larry’s) badge dissuaded victims from reporting his misconduct and led those who did complain about his conduct to be disbelieved. (His) conduct made the investigation more challenging, as victims were difficult to identify or reluctant to cooperate,” the motion stated.