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Former LA County Sheriff's Deputy Sentenced For Taking Bribes For Fixing Traffic Tickets

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former sheriff's deputy was sentenced Tuesday to community service and probation for receiving bribes in exchange for fixing traffic tickets, officials from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

Edwin Allan Tamayo, 43, was sentenced to 400 hours of community service and three years formal probation.

Tamayo pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 to one felony count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

If he successfully completes the terms of his sentence, Tamayo can ask that the charge be reduced to a misdemeanor. Eight other counts against him were dismissed as a result of his plea.

Before he resigned from the department on Aug. 14, Tamayo was assigned to the Lost Hills station. Prosecutors say he fixed tickets by removing them before they were filed in court and took court notices from a colleague's office mailbox without the deputy's knowledge.

Tamayo was compensated by friends or acquaintances for his covert actions on at least two occasions, prosecutors said, including an instance when Tamayo was paid at least $1,000 by a driver to get rid of three tickets in 2012.

He was put on paid leave in February 2013 when the sheriff's department launched an internal investigation.

Tamayo was arrested June 3 in San Diego, released after posting $25,000 bail and charged two days later.

"I'm glad that this worked out favorably to all parties involved," Tamayo's attorney, Jacob Glucksman, said outside court.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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