Former Probation Officer Sent to Prison for Taking Bribe
A former State of Connecticut probation officer was sentenced today to serve a year and a half in prison for taking a bribe from a father who sought to end his daughter’s probation.
ALPHAH EAST, age 38, of 16 Union St., Meriden, was sentenced in Stamford Superior Court by Judge Referee Richard F. Comerford, Jr., to five years incarceration, execution suspended after 18 months served, to be followed by three years’ probation.
East pled guilty on March 22, 2016, to one count of Bribe Receiving.
According to police reports and court documents, East, while employed by the Judicial Branch as a probation officer, solicited and accepted a $5,000 check from the father of a woman East had been supervising on probation. In return for the money, East promised to have the woman’s remaining probation terminated.
East was accused of receiving a total of $13,500 from the father before the man’s attorney complained to the Chief State’s Attorney, who initiated the undercover operation where the $5,000 transaction was recorded.
In addition to the prison term and probation, East was ordered to pay the father $13,500 in restitution.
The case was investigated by Inspectors from the Statewide Prosecution Bureau in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney assisted by the Norwalk Police Department. It was prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecution Bureau.