Action News 5 - Memphis, TennesseeFormer police officer sentenced to 8 years in prison

Former police officer sentenced to 8 years in prison

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Norman Benjamin, photo courtesy Shelby County Jail. Norman Benjamin, photo courtesy Shelby County Jail.

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By ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A former Memphis police officer who lied about being shot by a Hispanic man and tried to hire someone to kill the boyfriend of a 17-year-old girl he was trying to date has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Judge Paula Skahan sentenced 47-year-old Norman Benjamin on Wednesday to the maximum prison time allowed under a deal with prosecutors that included guilty pleas to filing a false report, solicitation to commit murder and providing a handgun to a juvenile.

Benjamin was arrested Sept. 28 after police discovered he lied about being shot in the abdomen by a Hispanic man three weeks earlier.

Investigators later found he gave drugs and a gun to the girl. They also found he tried to hire a hitman to kill her boyfriend.

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