Ex-policeman jailed for passing data to private eye
By Georgie Moore – September 18, 2019
A former Victorian police officer has been jailed for illegally accessing the force’s database to pass information to his private detective friend..
Former officer Elio Raso and Anthony Thompson, both 62, pleaded guilty to seven counts of misconduct in public office by illegally accessing the database between 2011 and 2017.
Both worked for Victoria Police and as private detectives before Raso returned to the force and began sharing confidential information with Thompson.
The two men were sentenced at the County Court on Wednesday.
Raso accessed the force’s database more than 200 times and Thompson on nearly 200 occasions over about seven years.
Judge Mark Dean, sentencing the pair in the County Court on Wednesday, said their relationship was “corrupt”. He jailed Raso for six months.
Raso was also handed an 18-month community corrections order, including 100 hours on unpaid community work.
Thompson was spared a jail term, partly because of his severe mental health issues that were expected to deteriorate behind bars.
Instead he will spent two years on a community corrections order and must complete 200 hours of voluntary work.