A former Honolulu police officer was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for trying to extort $15,000 from a hostess bar for protection.

Roddy T. Tsunezumi, 38, pleaded guilty to extortion in July, several months after he resigned from a nine-year career with the Honolulu Police Department.

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson called Tsunezumi’s actions reprehensible.

Another man who helped Tsunezumi, Jeremy Javillo, is set to be sentenced Thursday.

KHON2 reports that part of the plea deal involved the government dropping a separate charge against Tsunezumi involving stolen cars.

As Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Sorenson told the TV station:

“When you have an individual with the color of law behind them committing criminal activities, especially serious crimes like extortion and,, as the court talked about too, VIN fraud as well, that’s very concerning because it does cause a loss of trust that the public has in places within its law enforcement, authorities and so yeah, there’s a breach of trust there that needs to be addressed in a sentence.”

HPD has come under intense scrutiny over the past year for several high profile cases involving officers behaving badly.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat