Former Officer Will Serve Four Months in Prison

With federal prosecutors noticeably disappointed, Judge Rya Zobel on Tuesday afternoon sentenced former Revere Police Officer Todd Randall to four months in prison for lying to FBI agents in 2010 during the course of an investigation into police corruption in Revere.

Randall has already served 33 days and will get credit for that time.

At the end of sentencing, he was allowed to go free and will report to prison at noon on Jan. 30th.

In the end, a legal loophole, an alleged assault of an Internet blogger caught on tape and strong words by the federal prosecutors didn’t convince Judge Zobel to send a message on corruption by sentencing Randall to 15 months in prison – which is the absolute maximum and beyond the federal guidelines of 0-6 months.

“Mr. Randall is charged with lying to the FBI,” said the judge in court. “He is not charged with assaulting an Internet blogger, Mr. Ireton, or with extortion. ..It’s unusual that I find myself in agreement with the guidelines, but in this case I do. I do not think it’s appropriate to let Mr. Randall go home and never come back though. I sentence him to four months in prison with two years supervised release.”

Prosecutors were displeased with the sentencing and had hoped Randall would end up with much more time.

They told the court that they began the investigation into Randall because of numerous complaints about him being corrupt.

“Essentially we have a corrupt cop from Revere who finally got caught,” said Prosecutor Brian Kelly. “The FBI and law enforcement had received many complaints that Mr. Randall was a corrupt cop, that he shook down drug dealers, extorted them, and took money from them by telling them he could fix court dates that did not exist. The FBI decided to target him. We didn’t end up here by accident. This wasn’t a one time thing. As the investigation moved forward, we found he was corrupt.”

Kelly detailed the case, explaining that they had used a cooperating witness to take a bribe from Randall to fix a domestic violence case for the cooperating witness’s friend.

“He took the money and counted it and was very calm and caviler about it,” said Kelly. “It was evident this wasn’t the first time.”

Kelly also went into detail about the assault involving Ireton one week after Randall pleaded guilty in September.

Most importantly, he said that they did not charge Randall with the more serious crime of extortion because of a “one in a million” loophole that existed. Because the “fixed” case related to domestic violence and not drugs, they could not establish a violation of the interstate commerce clause – a key ingredient in the more serious charge.

“That loophole really doesn’t mitigate his behavior, though it might get him a legal out on extortion,” Kelly said.

Randall’s attorney, Tim Flaherty, said Randall has taken responsibility and admits to wrongdoing.

He said that Randall has been a diligent father since committing to sobriety last year, and his hope for the future lies in Randall’s 3-year-old daughter.

Several letters had been submitted from community members in Revere in support of Randall, and most of them called for him to come home immediately. However, even without that outcome, the sentencing was pretty much seen as a victory by Randall and his supporters.

Randall thanked the judge out loud in the courtroom upon her announcement of four months.

He also addressed the court, offering numerous apologies.

“This is a black eye I will have to live with all of my life and have to explain to my daughter when she is older,” he said. “More than anything I am ready to turn a new chapter in my life and be the good husband and father I am. I think I can be a productive member of society.”

Come this spring, he will have yet another second chance to do so.