ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley says Winnfield’s police chief has been convicted of interfering with the arrest of a woman wanted for bank fraud in Washington state.
She says Johnnie Ray Carpenter was convicted Thursday of obstructing a deputy federal marshal who arrested Porcia Sanders on Aug. 27, 2009. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Finley says trial testimony showed that Carpenter came out of a crowd without identifying himself or showing a badge, yelled for the crowd to follow him, and the crowd pushed forward around the arrest team.
Sanders made a sealed guilty plea last year in Seattle to bank fraud totaling about $2,600 and was sentenced to time served.
Carpenter’s trial took two days from jury selection to conviction.
