Posted on 08/06/20
| News Source: WBAL TV
A Maryland State Trooper has entered a guilty plea to charges of perjury and misconduct in office stemming from fabricated DUI arrests, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Wednesday.
The Attorney General's Office said Cpl. John Sollon, 36, pleaded guilty Wednesday before the Circuit Court of Baltimore County. Sollon was sentenced to six years in prison, all suspended, three years of supervised probation and a fine of $6,000. As a condition of probation, Sollon will be required to perform 300 hours of community service.
Sollon was appointed as a Maryland state trooper in 2010 and has been a member of the SPIDRE Team specialized DUI unit since 2014. Between Jan. 20, 2018, and Dec. 29, 2019, Sollon fabricated six DUI arrests, prosecutors said. In each case, no actual traffic stop was conducted, no individual was arrested and the individual purportedly stopped did not exist. However, Sollon issued traffic citations under penalty of perjury in the name of each fictitious driver, which were submitted for adjudication to the District Court of Maryland.
Prosecutors said Sollon completed and executed forms for each defendant, falsely certifying under penalty of perjury that the fictitious defendant had been stopped for DUI, had been advised of their rights and had refused a test of breath.
None of the fictitious defendants appeared for their scheduled court dates because they did not exist, and as a result, warrants were issued for the arrest of the fictitious defendant in four of the six cases. Read more at WBALTV