Two-year term for ex-officer in tip-off Rickie Durham made a call that alerted “Ace Capone” to a drug raid

Rejecting the prosecution’s primary arguments in the obstruction-of-justice case against former Philadelphia police officer Rickie Durham, a federal judge Monday sentenced him to 24 months in prison, well below the minimum 15-year sentence authorities had sought.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Savage said Durham’s actions were “reckless” and “exposed fellow officers to great risk,” but he described them as an isolated incident in an otherwise exemplary 12-year career in law enforcement.

Durham was convicted last September of making a phone call that tipped drug kingpin Alton “Ace Capone” Coles to a raid just hours before it went down on Aug. 10, 2005. He also was found guilty of lying to investigators probing how Coles learned of the raid.