Ex-police officer faces sentencing for bribery

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A former New York police officer seeking leniency in a bribery case is citing his former wife's lesbian affair.

Michael Brady faces sentencing Thursday in federal court in New Haven for accepting cash payments in exchange for permitting the transport of what authorities say was prescription drug trafficking proceeds through Westchester County Airport. Brady says he was told the man sold mulch.

An attorney for Brady says in court papers he was vulnerable at the time because he had recently been told of the affair.

"The news of this fundamental betrayal was overwhelming," wrote his attorney, Joseph Sorrentino. "He could not fathom his life without his wife and two young daughters and he could not imagine how he would pay for increased living expenses caused by divorce and the maintenance of two residences. So while there is no excuse or defense to Mr. Brady's extortion/bribe taking, there is some mitigation and explanation as to the motivation for the added income."

Sorrentino urged the judge to impose a one-year prison sentence.

A telephone number could not be found for his former wife.

Prosecutors say Brady deserves a sentence of nearly four years in prison.

"Brady not only chose to disregard laws enacted for national security but to do so for his personal gain," prosecutors wrote. "A public official who accepts such awesome responsibility and then negates it for personal gain deserves a serious sentence."

Brady, who worked for the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, pleaded guilty in February to bribery and extortion.

Authorities say he received about $20,000 from an oxycodone trafficker to ensure he could carry large quantities of cash through airport security.