Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Trooper who shook down motorists sentenced

Kudos to the Texas Department of Public Safety for ferreting out a corrupt trooper in an undercover sting who was shaking down Latino motorists. According to the Houston Chronicle:

A former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was sentenced [Tuesday] to federal prison for stealing money from motorists, particularly Hispanics.

Michael Anthony Higgins, 43, was sentenced in Corpus Christi federal court to four years in prison, federal officials said.

He also must serve one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $850 in restitution.

A jury convicted Higgins on Jan. 13 of four counts of willfully stealing money from motorists he stopped on the highway while he was working as a trooper.

Federal authorities said Higgins stopped motorists who appeared to be of Hispanic descent and stole their money, usually in amounts of several hundred dollars.

Civilian complaints led DPS and the Texas Rangers to investigate Higgins.

An undercover agent posing as a motorist was stopped by Higgins, who asked the driver for money and then took some of it, officials said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So when are they going to fire Ranger Kemp for the perjury he committed in the Smith County "Mineoal Swingers Club" case?

Roy said...

Armed robbery, and they ding him for 'stealing'?

Anonymous said...

For what Troopers are paid I'm not surprised. The current vacancy rate should be a clue.

Anonymous said...

the current trooper vacancy rate is intended - and the salary money from those trooper vacancies is being used to pay for several new high paid executive positions they have recently created ....

Anonymous said...

Another State of Texas confidence builder ROFLMAO!

Texas Law Enforcement Blog said...

Hope there is a special place in hell for you Mr. Higgins...

Take it from me, I am paid the exact same salary as State Troopers. This was greed plain and simple.

As if my job wasn't hard enough already... Higgins you deserve everything coming to you.

Hook Em Horns said...

Another proud Texas moment!

machine said...

A step in the right direction...showing cops that they are not above the law.