Former St. Joseph County police officer sentenced for corruption

By Kelli Cheatham (kcheatham@wsbt.com)

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Former St. Joseph County police officer Andrew Taghon was sentenced for corruption

Former St. Joseph County police officer Andrew Taghon was sentenced for corruption on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. (Tribune file photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: May 13, 2009 at 5:17 PM EST

Story Updated: May 13, 2009 at 5:55 PM EST

HAMMOND, Ind. — A federal judge told a former St. Joseph County Police officer he found his behavior "very disturbing" and "appalling." That same judge sentenced Andrew Taghon to 6 1/2 years in prison for federal corruption charges.

Judge Phil Simon recommended Taghon serve his time at a federal prison in West Virginia. But ultimately that decision is up to the Bureau of Federal Prisons — they place convicted felons in certain facilities, depending on the severity of the crime committed.

As he left the courthouse with his wife, family and friends, Andrew Taghon refused to talk to reporters.

The federal case against former St. Joseph County police officers Andrew Taghon and Ryan Huston and former South Bend police officer Jamie Buford dates back five years to 2004. All admitted to stealing a number of items from a South Bend mobile home, including plasma TVs and computer monitors. They also tried to sell cocaine found inside.

In addition, Taghon knowingly sold a gun to a convicted felon.

His attorney, Martin Kus, spoke on behalf of his client Wednesday afternoon.

"Mr. Taghon recognizes he owes a debt to society and he wants to start to serve that debt," Kus said. "He looks forward to doing that."

Judge Simon said he "thought long and hard" about accepting the plea agreement entered earlier this year.

"When you have a badge and a gun, you can really screw with people's lives," Simon told Taghon in the courtroom.

Simon did, however, grant a motion from Kus — allowing Taghon to spend a little more time with his family rather than serving his sentence immediately. Kus said he requested it for two reasons.

"Obviously we'd like him to go directly to the facility that he's going to be serving his sentence rather than to a holding facility like a county jail or a correctional facility in Chicago. The second one is that he does have a 4-year-old daughter that has her birthday on July 4, and he will not be seeing her for about 6 1/2 years. So we asked for that, he asked to be allowed to go to that birthday party."

Taghon has to report to federal prison July 7. Judge Simon warned him, saying "you better be there."

Buford, the former South Bend officer indicted on corruption charges, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning.

The other former St. Joseph County officer, Huston, will be sentenced in July.

Both face up to six years in prison.

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