A former San Francisco police officer convicted of corruption, including illegal searches and theft from suspects, was sentenced to three and one-half years in prison Monday.
Ian Furminger’s 41-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is less than the maximum of six to eight years sought by federal prosecutors.
n December, a federal jury convicted Furminger and Edmond Robles of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of suspects by theft of computers, gift cards and money for their own benefit. Both officers worked in the Mission Station. In addition they were both convicted of two counts of wire fraud.
Breyer also imposed a $25,000 fine.
Furminger, 48, and his partner were responsible for hunting street-level drug dealers in the Tenderloin and Mission districts and arresting them, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hemann.
Instead, he was “careening around the Mission and Tenderloin” with Robles and a third officer “stealing money and property, sawing police call boxes off lamp posts, and throwing fireworks out of his car,” Hemann stated in court papers.
In his off-duty time he launched racist and sexist texts to his friends, Hemann said.
“Some defendants have earned, through a life of good works marred by limited but significant errors in judgment, a break. Defendant Furminger is not one of those people,” he said.
Outside the courthouse, Furminger told reporters he did nothing wrong and his only regret was not testifying in his own defense, the Chronicle reported.
Case: U.S. v. Furminger, No. 14-102CRB
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