HOBSON CITY POLICE CHIEF PLEADS GUILTY TO EXTORTION

BIRMINGHAM, AL - DARYL PARKER pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to three counts of selling firearms to a convicted felon and extorting money under color of official right to release an impounded automobile. PARKER, 54, of Lincoln, Alabama, was indicted in October 2006.

“The citizens of Hobson City and Calhoun County expect their Police Chiefs to enforce the law and not use the power of their offices to engage in criminal activities,” states U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin. “Police Chiefs must obey the law like any other citizen.”

The maximum sentence for selling firearms to a convicted felon is ten years imprisonment or a fine of $250,000, or both on each count. The maximum sentence for Hobbs Act extortion is imprisonment of up to twenty years and a fine of $250,000, or both.

This matter is being investigated by Special Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Investigators with the Calhoun/Cleburne County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, along with Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Pat Meadows is prosecuting this matter on behalf of the U.S. Government.