Police Detective Pleads Guilty to Kickback Scheme: News Near Decatur

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A career police officer last employed by the Dunwoody Police Department has found himself on the wrong side of the law after pleading guilty to computer fraud in federal court, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Robert Pasquale Bentivegna, 64, admitted that he fraudulently accessed a law enforcement database starting in July 2011 in order to obtain sensitive information he then passed on to one of his confidential informants. Bentivegna tipped the informant off about arrest warrants in his name in exchange for gifts such as airline tickets to New York for him and his wife and new vehicles for his children.

“It is a sad day when a career law enforcement officer turns his back on decades of public service by selling his access to sensitive law enforcement information,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “Bentivegna’s conduct undermines trust in law enforcement and could have exposed the public to significant harm.”

J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated: “The FBI’s number one criminal investigative program remains that of public corruption due to the vast harm that it can cause. The guilty plea of former Dunwoody Det. Bentivegna illustrates the betrayal of the badge by a very seasoned law enforcement officer and the consequences that he now faces for this betrayal.”

Bentivegna, of Woodstock, will face sentencing on June 1.