Johnathan Walker:Former Alabama police officer agrees to plead guilty in alleged drug planting scheme

BIRMINGHAM,Johnathan Walker Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama police officer has agreed to plead guilty in connection with an alleged scheme to plant drugs on motorists, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Court records show that Michael Kilgore, a former police officer with the Centre Police Department, has signed a plea agreement on a charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. It describes how a package containing methamphetamines, oxycodone and marijuana was planted in a woman’s car with the help of a co-conspirator.

According to the plea agreement, the scheme began in early 2023 when Kilgore found methamphetamines and marijuana in a car and offered to let the driver avoid drug charges by working with him as a confidential informant.

“The driver accepted and became a co-conspirator in Kilgore’s drug-planting scheme,” U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona’s office said in a statement.

About a week later, Kilgore told the co-conspirator that he wanted to make a narcotics case and the two arranged for a package of drugs to be attached to the undercarriage of a vehicle, according to the plea agreement. On Jan. 31, 2023, Kilgore pulled the car over during for an alleged traffic violation and searched it and produced the drugs, prosecutors said.

Kilgore and his co-conspirator had planned a second drug plant, prosecutors added, but the co-conspirator discarded the drugs and reported the scheme to law enforcement.

The federal charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors said their sentencing recommendation would credit Kilgore for acknowledging and taking responsibility for his conduct.