Ex-Metro cop given 10 years in robbery

Kim Smith

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.

Fourteen-year Metro Police veteran Jack Brandon continued to loudly proclaim his innocence Wednesday as he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbing two United Coin employees.

Brandon, 41, convicted in the Feb. 22 robbery at Rae's Lounge in Henderson, will have to serve at least two years before becoming eligible for parole.

A tearful Brandon told District Judge Donald Mosley that he has always been upstanding citizen and had he been guilty, he would have entered a plea agreement.

Although he said he respects the criminal justice system and the jurors who convicted him, Brandon said "I'm still going to appeal this case because I did not commit this crime."

Prosecutors alleged the police detective was so desperate to pay off thousands of dollars in gambling debts he donned a ballcap, sunglasses and gauze bandages as a disguise and robbed the United Coin employees as they were making a pickup at the lounge.

Brandon was linked to the crime when the license plate of the alleged getaway car came back to his police-issued Ford Taurus and a Global Positioning System device showed his car was in the area at the time of the robbery.

During closing arguments in his trial, defense attorney Steve Stein said the Rae's busboy who saw Brandon get into his car that morning mistook Brandon for the robber after losing sight of the real robber momentarily.

Brandon just happened to be in the lounge's parking lot looking for a woman from whom he hoped to buy an amethyst and diamond necklace for his fiancee, Stein said.

Brandon was convicted in August of two counts of robbery and one count of burglary. He was fired from the police force shortly before the trial began.

Stein argued that Brandon should be given probation because he is not a risk to the community, has already been punished enough by the publicity surrounding the case and is already attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

Brandon's past as a police officer and his status as a single father "all speak extremely highly of the type of life this man's led and will continue to lead if given the opportunity," Stein said.

The defense attorney began to point out a handful of detectives gathered in the courtroom on behalf of Brandon only to be interrupted by Detective Jim Buczek, who told the judge he wasn't there to support the former officer.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli argued for the prison sentence, noting Brandon's lack of remorse, the nature of the crime and the fact Brandon was a cop who committed the crime while on duty.

Following the sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas said many first-time robbers are given probation if they have no criminal records.

"I think that because Mr. Brandon was a police officer he should be held to a higher standard and I think that that is probably reflected in the judge's sentence," Daskas said. "Clearly he has convinced himself or is in denial about the fact he committed this crime."