CINCINNATI — Former Cincinnati police captain Michael Savard was sentenced on Friday for federal bribery charges from 2019.
Savard was sentenced to five years probation and will have to pay $58,762 back to the IRS by December 1, 2020.
He said he can pay the amount with his retirement money. Savard currently works for Amazon.
According to his 2019 indictment, 52-year-old Savard accepted a $5,000 payoff from another Cincinnati officer in exchange for a promise to retire, promoting that officer from sergeant to lieutenant when he left.
He was arrested in a June 6 sting operation and announced his retirement the following week. While defending Savard in federal court, attorney Christopher McDowell claimed bribing other officers to retire early is a common practice within the Cincinnati Police Department.
At the time, police Chief Eliot Isaac acknowledged hearing rumors about officers taking payments to retire early but said he believed it was an extremely rare practice.
Federal investigators also found Savard had filed a false tax return in 2016.
