A former police officer in Southern California solicited bribes—together with fancy dinners, tickets to an artwork truthful and almost $30,000 in lease—from a Colombian artwork vendor for seven years in change for immigration advantages.
The previous officer, Paul John Gollogly of Temecula, California, pleaded responsible this month to 1 depend of bribery for providers he offered to an unnamed Colombian vendor between April 2013 and February 2020, together with helping the vendor at border crossings between Mexico and the US, facilitating authorisation for work permits and helping with a everlasting residency software.
Throughout this era, Gollogly was in control of the anti-money laundering programme on the Murrieta Police Division in Riverside County, California, dealing with registered confidential informants. In April 2013, he registered the Colombian vendor as a confidential informant, subsequently claiming that the vendor’s assist had led to investigations, arrests and seizures of medication and cash—none of which was true, in line with a current Division of Justice submitting.
The submitting and associated court docket paperwork don’t identify the Colombian vendor in query, referring to them merely as “Individual A” and noting that they owned galleries in New York and Spain, plus a resort in Mexico. The vendor additionally had enterprise pursuits in Colombia and Panama, in line with court docket paperwork.
In change for serving to the vendor with immigration and border-crossing points, Gollogly obtained a variety of advantages, together with tickets to the 2013 version of Artwork Basel in Miami Seaside and a 2019 exhibition in New York, dinner for Gollogly and 4 kin at an costly New York restaurant, stays on the vendor’s resort in Mexico for 2 kin and a pal and almost $30,000 in lease for a relative’s lodgings in New York. The vendor additionally gave a job to a household pal of Gollogly’s and tried to acquire a job with a significant philanthropist for one of many officer’s kin.
“My consumer deeply regrets that his conduct introduced dishonour to legislation enforcement, a career he was proud to have been part of for his complete grownup life,” says Brian Gurwitz, the lawyer representing Gollogly. “He absolutely accepts accountability for his misconduct.”
Gollogly, who’s 74 years outdated, is because of be sentenced on 19 January 2024. Although he may resist ten years in jail, prosecutors have requested for a sentence of not more than 18 months as a part of his plea deal. A spokesperson for the District Lawyer’s workplace for the Central District of California declined to remark.
Whereas the id of the Colombian vendor has not been revealed, Gollogly’s plea deal suggests he could possibly be cooperating in an extra investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which assisted within the bribery case. Colombia and the US have an lively extradition settlement.