Former trooper gets five years for betting ring

[clevfan]

Former trooper gets five years for betting ring
by Rick Hepp
Star Ledger
Friday August 03, 2007, 10:23 AM



Former state trooper James Harney was sentenced this morning to five years in prison for using his patrol car to run a multimillion-dollar betting ring that catered to professional hockey players and Hollywood celebrities.


Harney pleaded guilty last August to official misconduct, conspiracy and promoting gambling and agreed to turn state's evidence against his partner in the ring, professional hockey coach Rick Tocchet. Tocchet subsequently pleaded guilty in May to third-degree conspiracy and third-degree promoting gambling.

Harney, who was sentenced by state Superior Court Judge Thomas Smith in the Burlington County courthouse, could have faced 25 years if convicted at trial. He is eligible for parole in one year.

A third member, bookie James Ulmer, faces up to 364 days in jail on conspiracy and promoting gambling charges when he is sentenced later this month. Tocchet, meanwhile, will likely be sentenced to a probationary term based on the charges.

Harney testified during his guilty plea that he and Tocchet accepted millions of dollars worth of wagers and split the winnings down the middle - sometimes settling up with a "bag of cash" and other times with either a personal or cashier's check.

Harney, a road trooper based at the Moorestown station, used the book-making to turn himself from a nondescript former bartender into a backroom dealer who hobnobbed with NHL stars, owned two $400,000 houses, kept dozens of Rolex watches worth more than $250,000 and drove two late- model luxury vehicles, State Police said when Harney was arrested.

[Garbage Time]

Good to know that a person can get a couple years for rape and 3-4 years for manslaughter, but serious criminals who have the audacity to bet on sports are still getting five years for guilty pleas.

So, just a question for the hoi polloi reading this out there: if this guy got five years, how many of us should be on death row?

[(sportman)]

He'll be out in a year...

Not bad for the high profile case

[StarnetGypsy]

Originally Posted by clevfan

Harney, a road trooper based at the Moorestown station, used the book-making to turn himself from a nondescript former bartender into a backroom dealer who hobnobbed with NHL stars, owned two $400,000 houses, kept dozens of Rolex watches worth more than $250,000 and drove two late- model luxury vehicles, State Police said when Harney was arrested.

at first i wondered if a NHL player ratted the trooper out, then i read how large the bozo was livin on a cops pay. my advice to him, eat, drink, smoke, read, and shower with his back to the walls ...

now if they'd only go after Congress w/the same enthusiasm

[homedog]

Clev,

What has happened the ex-state trooper in Louisiana that was arrested for gambling?

[Oddessa]

Dont 4get u can molest a kid in the northeast and walk on probation. Pretty sick how backwards laws are....

.....if anyone ever touched my kid.....jail...would be only safe place for them...b/c I'd impose my own death penalty.

[clevfan]

Ex-trooper gets jail in bookie ring

By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff


MOUNT HOLLY
A former state trooper was sentenced to five years in state prison Friday for running a multimillion dollar sports-betting ring with former Philadelphia Flyers hockey star Rick Tocchet.

James Harney, 41, of Marlton also forfeited some $700,000 in property and cash. He will be barred from public office for life as part of his penalty for official misconduct in office, conspiracy to promote gambling and promoting gambling.

"Prison is the appropriate punishment for this defendant, who dishonored his uniform and badge by running a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise," Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a statement.

Harney, the first to be sentenced in a state probe called "Operation Slap Shot," offered no apology or other comment Friday before Superior Court Judge Thomas Smith Jr.

Because of his cooperation with state authorities after his arrest, the judge gave Harney five years, less than the maximum seven years in prison.

Smith also sentenced Harney to a concurrent three-years sentence for promoting gambling.

"Clearly, the Legislature was sending a message that offensive acts of this type -- official misconduct -- need to be addressed seriously by this court and I am going to follow that direction," the judge said.

Craig Mitnick, Harney's lawyer, called Harney's cooperation more than substantial and said it led to Tocchet and a third co-defendant pleading guilty instead of going to trial. They are to be sentenced this month.

"He provided information they were not aware of," Mitnick said of his client's cooperation.

However, he then admitted, "The issue is he was a state trooper and that caused the state police harm (to) their reputation, and in the end, it cost him his job, his liberty, his wife and his children."

Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades said while Harney's cooperation was substantial, it was not extraordinary enough to overcome the presumption of incarceration. The judge agreed with imprisonment but not with Eliades' request for a seven-year sentence.

When he confessed in court last year, Harney described Rick Tocchet as his "50-50 partner" in the South Jersey-based bookmaking operation that took bets from across the country between 2002 and February 2006.

Tocchet, 43, of Phoenix, is on unpaid leave as an assistant coach for the NHL Phoenix Coyotes and is to be sentenced Aug. 17. He also faces prison time.

Harney has said Tocchet referred bettors, accepted wagers, collected bets and covered losses for the operation that involved professional football and collegiate basketball games.

Harney said he himself sometimes handled more than $1,000 in bets daily, sometimes even when he was on duty as a state trooper.

In one 40-day period surrounding the 2006 Super Bowl, state investigators said the gambling ring received more than $1.7 million in bets.

Harney had also admitted to assuring Tocchet and James Ulmer of Woolwich, a bookmaker who funneled bets, that he would not report them to police. Ulmer, 42, is due for sentencing Aug. 24 to up to a year in the county jail.

The criminal probe shocked the hockey world. The National Hockey League conducted its own investigation using a former federal prosecutor who ultimately concluded there was no betting on hockey games by the ring.

Former attorney General Zulima Farber had said the investigation from the beginning was about one thing -- taking down a corrupt police officer who was the initial target of the investigation that later led to the others.

Harney would be eligible for parole in a year and nine days, Eliades said.

He quit the state police just before his guilty plea last year after serving as a trooper for eight years.

[clevfan]

Originally Posted by homedog

Clev,

What has happened the ex-state trooper in Louisiana that was arrested for gambling?

hmmm, not sure I recall that story, can you refresh my memory?