FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRT (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Justice Department today announced that a former Tennessee County Sheriffs Deputy was sentenced to over four years in prison for conspiring in a plot to steal $35,000 from a motorist driving through Hardeman County, Tennessee. U.S. District Court Judge James D. Todd, for the Western District of Tennessee, also sentenced the defendant to two years probation.
Tracey Jones, a former County Sheriffs Deputy for Hardeman County, Tennessee, was indicted in 2003 on charges he violated the civil rights of a motorist by engaging in a conspiracy with another co-conspirator, Robert Crisp, Jr., to steal $30,000 in cash from the victim, Crisps nephew, who was driving through neighboring Madison County. The defendant conspired with Crisp to steal the money from the victim. Jones learned from his co-conspirator that the victim would be traveling from Indiana to Memphis carrying a large amount of cash. The defendant subsequently executed a phony traffic stop on the victims car and stole the $30,000 in cash. Jones and the co-conspirator later split the money.
Crisp pled guilty in October 2003 to conspiring to commit a civil rights violation and thereafter cooperated with the federal prosecution. He was sentenced on Jan. 30, 2004, to 32 months in prison.
The case was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, the Hardeman County Sheriffs Office and Bolivar Police Department. The case was jointly prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorneys Office for the Western District of Tennessee. 04-227
Source: US Department of Justice
