PROBATION OFFICER SENTENCED TO PRISON

TAMPA - A former Polk County probation officer is sentenced to 30
months in prison for her role in a ``shakedown.''

After a 13-year career as a Polk County probation officer, Debra D.
Leeks is going to a place some of her former clients know well.

U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. sentenced Leeks to 30 months
in prison Monday after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Del Fuoco
argued that she abused the public trust.

Leeks, 43, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to commit
extortion, conspiring to obstruct justice, lying to federal agents and
tampering with a witness. Agents with the FBI and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement accused the Lake Wales woman of
attempting to shake down a cocaine dealer who was under her
supervision.

Appearing before Adams in her prison jumpsuit, Leeks said that she was
``speechless'' and once again declared her innocence.

``I know a lot of the allegations against me are not true,'' she said.
``To me as long as you lie for [the government], you are doing good.
But if you tell the truth, that's not what they want to hear.''

Leeks has given conflicting accounts of her involvement.

In her plea agreement, Leeks admitted she accepted an expensive
leather jacket from convicted dealer Altius Willix and conspired with
others to collect an additional $5,000 payoff.

Willix has said he hoped Leeks, who had filed a violation of probation
report against him, would support him if he paid the money.

In the trial of two of her co-defendants in December, however, Leeks
testified differently. Although she acknowledged she accepted the
jacket and used $80 of the money Willix paid to cover a retail bill,
Leeks said she did not participate in the conspiracy.

Before imposing his sentence, Adams ruled that Leeks was not truthful
on the stand. But the judge also shaved nearly three years off Leeks'
potential sentence, finding that the state probation officer was not
in a sufficiently powerful position to justify an increased penalty.

``This incident appears to be completely out of character for her,''
said Brent Armstrong, Leeks' attorney.