Pubdate: Thu, 10 Mar 2016
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Paula McMahon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

EX-US MARSHAL GETS 10 YEARS

Broward Man Used Service Weapon to Steal From Drug Dealers

A deputy U.S. Marshal from Broward County who used his 
government-issued duty weapon to steal 24 pounds of marijuana from 
drug dealers in northern California was sentenced Wednesday to 10 
years in federal prison.

Clorenzo "Mack" Griffin, 38, who grew up and lived in Fort 
Lauderdale, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiring to 
commit robbery. He was fired after his arrest.

He admitted he planned, financed and participated in the Oct. 11, 
2014, armed robbery in Yuba City with two friends from Miami 
prosecutors said he recruited to help him.

Federal prosecutors in Sacramento had recommended a 12-year prison 
term for Griffin, saying his crimes were "particularly deplorable" 
because he was a "rogue member of federal law enforcement."

"Mr. Griffin not only endangered the public by his conduct, but he 
abused the public trust placed in federal law enforcement by using 
his service firearm to commit the crime," said Benjamin Wagner, the 
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.

Griffin was the one with "the moxie to set up and rob marijuana 
traffickers" and he came up with and executed the plan, prosecutor 
Jason Hitt said. It was he who arranged the cross-country flights, 
booked hotel rooms and obtained guns, ballistic vests and a rental vehicle.

When local law enforcement chased the robbers, Griffin drove the 
rented Jeep Patriot at high speed and used evasive maneuvers to try 
to escape, investigators said.

When a California Highway Patrol officer got close to him, Griffin 
"drew his firearm" and a Yolo County sheriff's deputy fired his gun 
at Griffin to "halt his aggression," prosecutors wrote.

The shot missed Griffin, who dropped his weapon and was arrested. 
Authorities said the incident could have easily proved deadly.

Griffin's lawyer Brian Bieber told the Sun Sentinel that Griffin 
suffered from post-traumatic disorder from "a very traumatic 
childhood" that included mental and physical abuse. Griffin was "in a 
disoriented state of mind" when he took part in the robbery, Bieber said.

Griffin's father, a community service aide for the Broward Sheriff's 
Office, was mostly absent from his life and Griffin's mother was a 
drug addict, according to court records. Griffin's mother died of a 
drug overdose when he was a child and his brother was shot dead at a young age.

Other family members stepped up to raise Griffin.

Many in the community considered him a great success story. He was a 
local football star at Boyd Anderson High School and became a 
standout defensive for the University of Minnesota football team.

After he graduated from college, he went into law enforcement - first 
for Lauderhill police and then the U.S. Marshals Service.

Griffin's work assignment mostly involved escorting federal prisoners 
to court in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and guarding them in the 
courtroom, though he said in interviews he wanted to fight the war on 
drugs and help disadvantaged children.

Bieber said the only thing that motivated Griffin's crimes were his 
psychological problems.

"Our explanation was quite simple-there was no logical motive. His 
conduct was psychologically driven from a misguided standpoint," Bieber said.

Family members said Griffin's mental condition deteriorated in the 
year before his crime. His wife wrote the judge that their marriage 
became troubled, he was drinking, got in two car accidents and 
isolated himself from family and friends, despite their efforts to help.

Griffin told the judge he was in a decompensated emotional state when 
he committed the crime, Bieber said.

Griffin admitted that he, and his two cohorts, pretended they were 
police officers conducting legal activity when they robbed the 
marijuana dealers in the parking lot of a hotel on State Road 99 in 
Yuba City. The men wore bulletproof police vests and brandished 
firearms during the crime, according to court records.

The three men were arrested after a California Highway Patrol officer 
tried to pull them over for speeding and running a stop sign in Sutter County.

Griffin used his duty weapon, a loaded .40-caliber issued to him by 
the U.S. Marshals Service in 2010, to commit the crime. He also was 
carrying his law enforcement credentials and wore his government 
issued bulletproof vest during the robbery.

The two other men who took part in the crime, Andre Jamison, 40, of 
Miami, and Rodney Rackley, 24, are serving seven years and three 
months and six years, respectively, in federal prison. With credit 
for time served since his October 2014 arrest and standard time off 
for good behavior, Bieber said Griffin can be released in about six years.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom