Spokane7
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January 31, 2012 in City
Ex-deputy sentenced for HUD fraud
Peterson lied about fulfilling residency requirement
A former Spokane County sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to serve a month in prison after he previously pleaded guilty to defrauding a federal program that allows law enforcement officers and other public employees to buy homes at a discount.
Brett J. Peterson, 41, had faced a sentencing range of six months to a year in federal prison. But U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle instead sentenced Peterson last Thursday to one month.
Peterson ended his 14-year career with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office in September after he agreed to plead guilty to three felony counts of lying to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He had purchased a home on West College Avenue in 2004 as part of the Good Neighbors Next Door Program, which pays half the cost of a home for law enforcement officers, firefighters and teachers who agree to buy homes in troubled neighborhoods and to live in them for three years. Peterson didn’t fulfill that residency requirement but signed documents saying he did.
Peterson was also ordered to repay $32,500, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Rice said. The case began from an anonymous tip in 2008, and federal agents working for HUD turned their findings over to federal prosecutors.
Peterson had been making a base salary of $65,000, but that amount did not include overtime and other possible pay increases, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said in an earlier interview. The sheriff previously called the case “heartbreaking” because Peterson was very talented.
Peterson’s defense attorney, Rob Cossey, could not be reached Monday for comment.
Trial begins in 1992 robbery, homicide 
lewis8457 on January 31 at 5:18 a.m.
proving once again just cause your a cop does not mean you are any smarter then the average bear.
rosehips on January 31 at 9:05 a.m.
wow, cops, firefighters and teachers can get half their houses paid for? No wonder we are so broke.
greenlibertarian on January 31 at 2:03 p.m.
Presuming he wasn’t lured into this by some unnamed third party, he should have AT LEAST got the minimum sentence.
IOW, why did this guy get ONE SIXTH of the minimum sentence? Cop preference?
What’s the damn point of these sentencing guidelines?
liveinfearoftheSPD on February 02 at 11:12 a.m.
It would be nice to, one time in my life, see a police officer who broke the law actually get the full sentence handed to them.
The courts and Prosecutors will keep handing out BS sentences, if not acquitted altogether. The SPD knows this so there is no threat to them to do wrong. Thus the cycle continues.