By Michael Hinkelman
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — Rickie Durham, a former Philadelphia police detective convicted last fall in connection with tipping off drug kingpin Alton “Ace Capone” Coles about a pending raid in August 2005, was sentenced yesterday to two years in a federal lockup.
The sentence was below the 41-to-51-month advisory guideline range calculated by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Savage and recommended by the defense.
Prosecutors had sought enhancements to the sentence which would have boosted the guideline range from 188 to 235 months and which Savage rejected. (Savage also eliminated a sentence of 121 to 151 months that had been recommended by the Probation Department.)
Savage concluded that the evidence did not support the government’s contention that Durham intended to warn Coles but rather that he was just trying to help a friend’s sister who was living with Coles at the time.
Authorities said the ex-cop called longtime friend and former Philly hoops star Jerome “Pooh” Richardson on the morning of the raid, knowing that Richardson would call his sister, Asya Richardson, then Coles’ live-in girlfriend, and warn her to get out of the Mullica Hill, N.J., house she shared with Coles.
U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said the feds were “disappointed” with the sentence and were considering all options, including appealing the sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals here.
Defense attorney Fortunato Perri Jr. said he was “very pleased” with the sentence.
“It’s obvious the judge carefully evaluated the facts and circumstances of the case, as well as Rickie’s unblemished background and his outstanding career in law enforcement,” Perri said.
Before sentencing, Durham, 44, his voice cracking, told Savage that he accepted “full responsibility” for his misdeeds, but attributed them to “poor judgment” and said he never intended to compromise the Coles investigation or endanger his fellow officers.
Durham must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on July 12. After his release, he must serve three years of supervised release, which includes 1,000 hours of community service.
Prosecutors, in seeking a lengthy prison sentence, may have overreached.
At one point in the proceedings, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Bresnick was reminding Savage about sentences meted out in federal district court to other corrupt city police officers, including Malik Snell (who got a 30-year term last year for using his badge to rob drug dealers), Savage said the circumstances in those cases were far different from Durham’s.
“We have a difference of opinion,” the judge said. “It’s called a sense of proportion.”
“Are you saying I don’t have it?” asked Bresnick.
“Draw your own conclusions,” Savage replied.
Durham, who was dismissed from the force last year, was convicted by a federal jury in September of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of lying to investigators.
He was one of almost 300 officers who had been assigned to take part in a series of early-morning raids targeting Coles’ drug organization on Aug. 10, 2005.
When Durham learned that Coles was the target, authorities said he called Richardson at his home in Southern California knowing that he would call his sister and Coles would be alerted to the raid. Later, Durham lied to agents about the leak, the feds said.
Coles had been the target of a two-year investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. The raids went off without incident and Coles, Asya Richardson and others susequently were arrested.
Coles was sentenced to life in prison plus 55 years last April for running a $25 million cocaine-distribution network. Richardson was convicted of two counts of money laundering but is appealing the conviction.
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