A former Prince George’s County police officer was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison for his role in a scheme to distribute untaxed cigarettes and alcohol, federal officials said.
Richard Delabrer, 47, of Laurel, will spend 46 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Federal officials said he helped his co-defendants smuggle alcohol and cigarettes supplied by an undercover agent across state lines, providing protection as they transported untaxed alcohol from Virginia to Maryland and receiving cash for his trouble. Delabrer, federal officials said, kept his police ID and police-issued gun on him while helping transport the alcohol shipments. He carried a number of firearms while protecting shipments, officials said — once, the undercover agent spotted two handguns in the trunk of his unmarked police car.
Delabrer also facilitated the sale of contraband cigarettes purchased from an undercover agent, officials said, reselling cigarettes to a Maryland carry-out store owner as well as Chong Chen Kim, another former Prince George’s County police officer. He would ultimately be involved in at least 33 transactions with the agent.
Delabrer and his co-conspirators paid the undercover agent more than $1.7 million for 17 million cigarettes and more than $116,000 for alcohol, officials said. Maryland lost more than $2.8 million in taxes on the cigarettes alone, officials said.
Kim was charged in the conspiracy, officials said. He bought untaxed cigarettes from Delabrer, officials said, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $213,000. Four others beside Kim and Delabrer were charged in the scheme.
Delabrer was charged in the fall of 2010 with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion under color of official right and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He admitted his role in the smuggling ring last May. Besides his prison sentence, he is also required to pay $183,799 and forfeit a house he bought with the proceeds from the scheme.
