Prosecutors seek prison terms of 6½ to 8 years for 2 S.F. cops

Federal prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of 6½ to eight years for two veteran San Francisco police officers convicted of stealing property and thousands of dollars from drug-dealer suspects, defense lawyers said Thursday.

While prosecutors have not yet filed their sentencing recommendations in court, they were disclosed by attorneys for Officer Edmond Robles and Sgt. Ian Furminger. The lawyers said the U.S. attorney’s office has endorsed a confidential sentencing recommendation by the court’s Probation Office.

Defense lawyers argued for shorter terms: about four years for Robles, and 2½ to three years for Furminger.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer has scheduled sentencing for Feb. 23.

Robles and Furminger, who worked in the plainclothes unit at the Mission District Station, were convicted in December of taking and dividing up thousands of dollars found during searches of drug dealers and their homes. The chief prosecution witness was another officer, Reynaldo Vargas, who pleaded guilty to similar charges and is awaiting sentencing.

Vargas described a series of incidents in 2009 in which he or Robles, his partner, swiped cash and other items from the homes of dealers they had arrested or were investigating, and shared the proceeds with Furminger, their supervisor.

On one occasion, Vargas said, the officers searched the home of a drug dealer in Newark, where Vargas found $30,000 in cash buried in the backyard. He said he, Robles and Furminger divided the loot on the drive back home.

A drug dealer who acted as a police informant testified that Robles paid him in cash and drugs for his information, and told him he could keep selling drugs with impunity as long as he continued to cooperate.

Defense lawyers described Vargas as a liar who framed their clients in order to get a lower sentence for himself. Neither Robles nor Furminger testified.

The jury convicted Robles of five felonies and Furminger of four. Both men were convicted of conspiring to steal money and property that should have been turned over to the city and of conspiring to deprive defendants of their rights.

Robles’ lawyer, Teresa Caffese, said in her court filing that the prosecution’s proposed sentence was too severe, in part because it was based on the faulty premise that the officers had intended to rob the home of the Newark drug dealer and, therefore, committed a burglary when they entered it.

Furminger’s attorney, Brian Getz, said his client had only a “minor role” in the incidents, compared with Robles and Vargas, and deserved a lesser sentence.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko