WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /EMWNews/ -- A former Gary, Ind.,

Police Department officer pleaded guilty today to a charge that he

knowingly falsified a police report to obstruct and influence a criminal

civil rights investigation, announced Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant

Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.



    Robert Irving, age 36, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of

Indiana before Senior Judge James T. Moody. Irving admitted that, after

using force during an arrest made on Sept. 11, 2005, he knowingly and

intentionally made false statements in a police report and that he did so

"in substantial part, to avoid a criminal investigation into [his]

actions." Irving further admitted that he had "altered the police report to

fabricate or exaggerate wrongdoing on the part of the arrestee . . . and to

omit or minimize the force I used against [the arrestee]." According to the

plea, Irving did so to "support [his] claim that [his] uses of force

against Mr. Jones were reasonable."



    The obstruction charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years'

imprisonment; a maximum fine of $250,000; up to three years supervised

release and a $100 special assessment.



    The case is being prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division with the

assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of

Indiana.