NEWS RELEASE
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

A. COURTNEY COX
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
Nine Executive Drive, Fairview Heights, Illinois 62208, Telephone (618) 628-3700

For Immediate Release
December 8, 2008

FORMER ALTON POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON

A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that MICKEY L. DOOLEY, age 49 of Alton, Illinois, and formerly an Alton Police Department officer, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison on December 8, 2008, as a result of his convictions, of:

Counts 1 and 2: False Statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

Count 3: Wire Fraud Involving the Deprivation of Right to Honest Services of the Alton Police Evidence Custodian;

Count 4: Corruptly Attempting to Conceal an Object, a Laptop Computer, with Intent to Impair its Availability for Use In An Official Proceeding;

Count 5: Disposal of Money That Had Been Stolen From Olin Credit Union;

Count 6: Disposal of Money That Had Been Stolen From U.S. Bank;

Count 7: Misapplication of Property Under The Care, Custody and Control Of a Local Government That Receives Federal Funds;

Count 8: Failure to File a 2006 U. S. Individual Income Tax Return.

DOOLEY was convicted by a jury on September 12, 2008, at the conclusion of a federal trial which started on September 3.

Evidence presented at trial established that DOOLEY, as evidence custodian for the Alton Police Department and in furtherance of a scheme to defraud the Alton Police Department and the citizens of the Southern District of Illinois, violated evidence and property management procedures, misappropriated evidence for personal gain, and thereby deprived the community of the right to honest services of the evidence officer of the Alton Police Department to preserve the integrity of evidence being stored in connection with criminal investigations and prosecutions. Evidence was adduced at trial that DOOLEY misappropriated funds being held as evidence in the Alton Police Department evidence vault, including money from two pending federal bank robbery prosecutions. Evidence was presented at sentencing that DOOLEY’s actions have adversely affected numerous federal and state prosecutions where DOOLEY was or is in the chain of custody of the evidence.

DOOLEY was also ordered to serve three years supervised release, following his release from prison, was ordered to pay a fine of $640, a special assessment of $725, and was ordered to pay restitution totaling $48,738.58, as follows:

$3,500, payable to the minor son of a deceased where the evidence established that DOOLEY stole funds from the scene of the death.

Olin Credit Union: $4,056

U.S. Bank: $20,607

Alton Police Department: $14,086.58

I.R.S.: $6,489

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Illinois State Police, and the Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Weinhoeft and Norman R. Smith.