Former Centre Police officer Michael Kilgore was sentenced to four years in federal prison and three years probation after admitting to criminal conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime.
Kilgore has been out on bond since his arrest in May 2023. According to court documents, he admitted he conspired with another person to plant methamphetamine, oxycodone, marijuana and other drugs in a woman's vehicle. When he pulled her over, he asked for permission to search her vehicle, and that's when he found the planted evidence.
He arrested the woman and her passenger.
Prosecutors said Kilgore came up with the plan so that he could make a narcotics arrest.
The co-conspirator was a person Kilgore pulled over and found drugs on in January 2023. He offered not to arrest the man if he helped plant evidence on another person.
Kilgore, a K9 handler, had worked for the Centre Police Department for less than a year at the time of the crime.
After Kilgore arrested the woman with the planted evidence, he asked the co-conspirator to do the same thing again, but to make sure the amount of drugs was enough to make a trafficking arrest. After the second request, the co-conspirator went to the police.
Kilgore also faces a state charge in Cherokee County. He has a plea hearing on November 13.
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