Former Revere police officer sentenced to four months in prison

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

A former Revere police officer who resigned in disgrace was sentenced today in US District Court in Boston to four months in federal prison for lying to an FBI agent investigating corruption.

Todd Randall was ordered to begin serving his sentence Jan. 30. Once his prison sentence is complete, he must also serve two years of probation, with conditions that he stay away from drugs and alcohol, and from any weapons, and also that he undergo substance abuse and mental health treatment.

“We are here today because essentially we have a corrupt cop from Revere who finally got caught,” Brian Kelly, head of the public corruption unit for the US attorney’s office, said in court.

“We didn’t get here by accident. It wasn’t a one-time thing we stumbled into. He is someone who thinks he is above the law,” Kelly said.

Kelly asked that Randall be sentenced to 15 months in prison, saying Randall had faced the possibility of being indicted for extortion.

Randall was caught on tape accepting $200 for his help in remedying a state court case for someone, but the transaction did not trigger the interstate component required for a federal extortion charge. Prosecutors did not seek an extortion indictment, Kelly said, because of the technical legal standard.

Kelly also said that Randall had committed a crime within a week after pleading guilty in September, when he smacked a community blogger in the head in a Dunkin’ Donuts shop. The smack led to a brawl with the blogger. Criminal charges against Randall from that case are pending in a state court.

US District Judge Rya W. Zobel said from the bench that the only crime Randall was convicted of, and thus being sentenced to, was for lying to investigators. She said the sentence of four months falls within sentencing guidelines that called for a sentence of zero to six months.

Randall had asked that he serve 30 days in prison.

He apologized to the court today.

“I’ve embarrassed myself; I’ve embarrassed the department; I’ve embarrassed my family,” he said. “It’s a black eye I’m going to have to live with.”

He added, “I feel I can be a productive member of society.”