Cop by day, drug lord by night

Whats wrong with a little moonlighting?
Story from the Cleveland Metro blog, Posted (justsick) on May 26, 2008

Cop by day, drug lord by night, sounds about right. This fool even had his mother involved in his operation. Why did he do it? He told the judge he was just being stupid. I guess that sounds a bit better than just being greedy and corrupt.

Akron -Former Cleveland police officer Zvonko Sarlog #2343, police officer, 2nd district, Cleveland, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday (2/2008)for moonlighting as a drug trafficker while wearing the badge. A contrite Sarlog told U.S. District Judge David Dowd during his sentencing hearing that his actions were born of “stupidity, naivety, and foolishness.” The six-year police veteran also said he feared imprisonment because of his law enforcement past. Sarlog, 37, was arrested in August after a federal investigation exposed his role in a drug ring that brought cocaine and marijuana to Northeast Ohio. Sarlog served as a bagman and coordinator for ring leader and longtime friend Ljubomir Rkman. Federal prosecutors originally asked Dowd to give Sarlog between 12 and 15 years because the officer breached the public’s trust. “He’s the only person in the conspiracy who raised his hand and swore to uphold the law,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney Robert Patton.

Dowd, however, gave Sarlog the mandatory minimum of 10 years, mostly because Rkman received a five-year sentence after a plea bargain. Five other co-defendants received sentences between one and four years after plea deals. Sarlog’s expressions of remorse and shame to Dowd were a far cry from the roguish rhetoric Sarlog used as a drug dealer. During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors — in an effort to demonstrate Sarlog’s work as a lieutenant in the ring — played several phone conversations during which Sarlog nervously bossed around his drug-trafficking associates. Those underlings included his mother Stefanija. After the woman failed to successfully deliver money to a drug courier, Sarlog became agitated and ordered her to try again. “You go and do it,” he said sternly in a phone conversation recorded by investigators. Stefanija Sarlog, 60, of Parma, was never charged in the conspiracy. Zvonko Sarlog bought a house across the street from his mother’s house and planned to use it as a stash house, according to prosecutors. FBI Special Agent Brian Young also testified that Sarlog once displayed a gun to an undercover agent and boasted “I run this [expletive]. Over time you’ll see what I’m all about.”