Former North County Municipal Enforcement Group Officer Sentenced For Taking A Bribe

A former North County Municipal Enforcement Group officer was sentenced to 24 months in prison on charges of taking a $5,000 bribe and obstructing a federal law enforcement investigation.

The officer, 38-year-old Scott William Haenel of O’Fallon, MO, stood before U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel for sentencing Thursday. Haenel pled guilty in April to one felony count of accepting a bribe and one felony count of obstruction of justice.

According to court documents, a person cooperating with the FBI met with officer Haenel on several occasions between November 2010 and January 2011. At that time, Haenel had been assigned to the North County Municipal Enforcement Group, which consists of law enforcement officers from various departments.

At one of these meetings Haenel was paid $5,000 in cash, which the FBI provided as part of the investigation, in exchange for his agreement to assist in a money laundering scheme involving drug trafficking money, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern Missouri news release.

Haenel also agreed to assist by using his position as a police officer to help conceal the illegal activity, according to the release.

On January 21, 2011, when Haenel learned that DEA agents and St. Charles police officers were investigating this person for money laundering and were going to go to his residence to attempt a search, Haenel tipped him off  about the search and advised him to get all of the money out of the residence before officers arrived, the release also states.

Haenel is no longer employed as a police officer.