Ex-police officer sentenced in corruption probe
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
A former Boston police officer was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison today for distributing steroids, committing perjury, and obstructing justice in a continuing federal grand jury probe of police corruption.
Edgardo Rodriguez, 38, of Hyde Park, apologized in court to his family and the public for his crimes, saying, "I wish it would never have happened. I made a bad choice.'' But he insisted that he was never a drug dealer and that he had only obtained steroids for himself.
His lawyer, Philip A. Tracy Jr., had asked US District Judge Rya W. Zobel to show leniency to Rodriguez and perhaps sentence him to home confinement. Tracy said Rodriguez was a Marine veteran who served in the first Persian Gulf War and had recently been married.
But the judge agreed with Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil that Rodriguez deserved a prison sentence. She said he lied to a grand jury in October 2006 about steroid use and distribution in the Police Department and tried to discourage another Boston police officer from testifying before the grand jury.
"I do not think this is a case for home confinement,'' Zobel said. "It is appropriate that perjury be recognized as one of the most serious offenses against the [judicial] system.''
Rodriguez is to report to federal authorities on Feb. 26 to start his sentence. The sentence of a year and a day means he can apply for a sentence reduction of about 40 days if he demonstrates good behavior.
After he finishes his prison sentence, he must spend two years on supervised release.
A grand jury began investigating steroid use by Rodriguez after three Boston police officers were indicted in July 2006 for guarding large shipments of cocaine. Federal investigators had intercepted phone calls between Rodriguez and Roberto Pulido, the police officer who organized the scheme to give police escorts to shipments of cocaine, as they discussed use and sales of steroids, said prosecutors.
Pulido, who was convicted last year with two other officers in the cocaine trafficking scheme, is to be sentenced May 20.
