Former officer's 5-year term cut to time he served

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
BYLINE: DAVE HUGHES ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Van Buren, AR

FORT SMITH - A former Van Buren police sergeant walked out of federal court Thursday a free man after a judge sentenced him to time served following a federal appeals court ruling that the judge's sentence was too long.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson told Miklos Molnar, 49, he was free to go following a short hearing. After Dawson left the bench, the courtroom filled with Molnar's family and friends broke out in applause. Some former co-workers, including Van Buren Police Chief Kenneth Bell, also were present and stood silently after the hearing.

Molnar, wearing tan slacks and a white T-shirt, spent the next few minutes hugging relatives until a court security officer told him he could leave the courtroom.

"I just praise God. That's all I have to say," he told reporters after the hearing.

Thursday's hearing was scheduled after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the five-year sentence Dawson gave Molnar was too long, according to federal sentencing guidelines. The court pointed out that, under the guidelines, Molnar should have been sentenced to 10-16 months in prison.

Molnar's attorney, Richard Barlow of Van Buren, said after court that Molnar served more than 11 months in prison and that his one year anniversary would have been March 12.

Dawson noted during the hearing that Molnar had paid the $50,997 restitution he was ordered to pay during his initial sentencing Jan. 29, 2009, as well as a $3,000 fine and a $100 special court assessment. On Thursday, Dawson ordered only that Molnar observe two years of supervised release.

According to the 8th Circuit, Molnar's initial prison sentence was based on the erroneous belief by Dawson that some of the $50,997 Molnar took was destined to be used as undercover drug buy money.

"Without question, Molnar's activities impaired access to funds that ought to be relatively accessible," Dawson wrote in a sentencing memorandum last year. "Not having the funds available could then have significantly impaired local drug prevention activities." Dawson seemed eager to correct the error Thursday as he addressed Molnar at the start of the hearing.

"You're here sooner than I expected you'd be," Dawson told Molnar. "I'm glad you're here." Molnar, a 20-year veteran of the Van Buren Police Department, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to a charge of embezzling money while working as an officer or employee of the government.

Molnar was a narcotics officer for the Police Department and a member of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's drug task force.

He was suspended July 2, 2007, after he told Bell he had taken money from the department's evidence room. Bell had confronted him about money missing from the evidence room which Molnar supervised.

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