He will pay more than $16,000
in restitution
Written by Beth LeBlanc
A former Clay Township police
officer will serve a year and a half of probation and pay more than $16,000 in
restitution for unlawfully granting pistol safety training certificates to 27
people.
Ralph Cierpial, 37, was
sentenced Monday in front of St. Clair County Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly.
Cierpial pleaded guilty to the
charge April 28, the same day he resigned from the Clay Township Police
Department.
In a December preliminary
examination, witnesses testified they received concealed pistol license
training certificates in March 2013 without receiving required firing-range
instruction.
During the sentencing, Cierpial
apologized to the court and said he accepted responsibility for his actions.
Cop fantasy
“It’s not Mr. Cierpial’s
intention to quibble, if you will, in terms of his overall acceptance of
responsibility in this matter,” Cierpial’s lawyer Daniel Garon said during the
sentencing.
Kelly said the lack of
firing-range training puts those 27 certified by Cierpial at risk.
“As a law enforcement officer,
your actions have reflected upon other law enforcement officers in the
community,” the judgesaid.
Mona Armstrong, senior
assistant prosecutor, said about $10,000 of the more than $16,000 in
restitution will be given back to victims who paid for valid training and
certification but did not receive it.
The remaining $6,000 will go to
the St. Clair County clerk’s office.
“The clerk and the gun board
literally had to spend hours and hours to determine which certifications were
compromised,” Armstrong said.
St. Clair County Clerk Jay
DeBoyer has said the clerk’s office contacted and interviewed more than 300
people who received certification from Cierpial.
Armstrong said the case was
unfortunate from the onset.
“I’m comfortable that the
defendant accepted responsibility for what he did, and the court appropriately
sanctioned him,” Armstrong said.