FORMER PRICHARD LAWMEN SENTENCED

Pippins Gets 43 Months For Extortion Conviction; Diaz Receives Maximum
12-Month Term

A federal judge in Mobile handed down sentences Tuesday for the last two of
six former Prichard police officers convicted in a high-profile corruption
case.

U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. sentenced Frederick Pippins,
convicted of extorting thousands of dollars from a California drug dealer,
to 43 months in prison and ordered Pippins and two other defendants jointly
to pay $10,000 in restitution to the city of Prichard.

Anthony Diaz, convicted on a misdemeanor deprivation of rights charge, was
sentenced to the maximum of 12 months in prison. He was not held after
sentencing but instead will be notified about when and where he is to turn
himself in, said Lila Cleveland, his attorney.

"We're certainly pleased with the outcome of the case, that all six
officers were convicted," said prosecutor Rita Glavin. "It's the right result."

The two former officers, along with the four sentenced last month, faced
significantly more time when FBI agents arrested them last August. The
group was indicted on 25 charges, which accused them of a racketeering
scheme of shaking down criminals for cash.

A federal investigation had targeted the Police Department for more than a
year, leading up to the indictments.

The six went on trial together in October, but a deadlocked jury forced a
mistrial after two weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations.
Former detectives Lt. James Stallworth, Sgt. John Stuckey, Derek Gillis and
Nathan McDuffie pleaded guilty on the eve of their retrial in exchange for
dropping some of the charges.

McDuffie and Stallworth, along with Pippins are jointly responsible for
paying the $10,000 restitution.

Convicted by a jury in February, Pippins and Diaz maintained their
innocence at sentencing. Pippins told the court he spent little time with
his three children because he was busy as a police officer.

"The picture that the government painted of me is totally wrong. It's
false," Pippins said. "I never took anything. I think I worked hard for the
city. I gave the city of Prichard my life."

Diaz, in an apparent reference to witnesses, accused drug dealers and
"thugs" of falsely accusing him.

"I'm innocent of all the charges," Diaz told the court. "At no time in my
police career did I ever take any money from anyone. I did my job. I did it
to the best of my ability with what I had."

Diaz could have faced more than 15 years in prison had jurors convicted him
on all counts. But jurors found him guilty only on a misdemeanor
deprivation of rights charge, concluding he pocketed a man's cash during a
1999 raid on a house known for gambling and drug use.

Pippins could have gotten a nine-year term had he been convicted on all counts.

Butler denied pre-sentencing requests by Cleveland and Pippins' attorney,
Willie Huntley, who were seeking reduced sentences out of concern for their
clients' safety in prison.

He also denied a request by the prosecution to increase Pippins' sentence.
Prosecutors accused Pippins of attempting to obstruct justice by giving the
court false information surrounding a telephone conversation he tapped
between himself and Stallworth.

"Pippins (through his attorney) falsely accused a pretrial services officer
of instructing him to contact his co-defendants and record those
conversations," the motion states.

Pippins' initial and subsequent pretrial officers said they didn't recall
any such conversation, according to the motion.