The former State Police trooper who was convicted earlier this year of extortion had a history of using the power of his badge to threaten and extort other victims, according to federal court records filed last week by prosecutors, as they plan to seek a five-year prison term at his sentencing Tuesday.
The former trooper, John Analetto, stalked and threatened women he pulled over, and in one case hit a former girlfriend, according to court records. He told girlfriends, “don’t disrespect me, you’ll be sorry.” And he extorted services, such as car repair work, threatening his victims with planting drugs on them or setting up a raid on their businesses, according to the court records. In one case, according to the records, Analetto fired a gun in a public garage in Arlington.
“The defendant’s internal affairs file is replete with examples of his abusing his position and authority as a State Trooper,” Assistant US Attorney Eugenia M. Carris said in the court filings. “The defendant spent years using his position as a law enforcement officer to both commit unlawful acts as well as to shield himself from the consequences of those acts.”
In most of the cases, the victims were too fearful to testify against Analetto because of his position as a trooper, so he was never charged or disciplined, according to the court records. In one case, a woman who had complained that he was stalking her did not come forward until after his arrest on the extortion charge.
Prosecutors have invoked his history of alleged abuses in arguing for a stiff penalty when he is sentenced for extortion on Tuesday, calling it an “abuse of position of trust.”
The prosecutors asked that he be sentenced to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and that he be fined and ordered to pay $6,500 in restitution.
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Analetto, 49, of Belmont, has been in prison since his arrest on New Year’s Eve in 2011.
“He is a criminal who should be evaluated as such,” Carris said in the court documents, calling Analetto “much more than a bully with a badge.”
Analetto was fired from his position as a trooper in June, a month after he was found guilty in a jury trial. He had been on unpaid leave while the case was pending.
State Police, who cooperated with the FBI-led investigation into the extortion allegations, welcomed the requested five-year sentence.
“Unlawful conduct and threats of violence by police officers is a breach of public trust that demands significant punishment, and we are confident the court will hand down an appropriate sentence,” the State Police said in a statement.
Analetto’s lawyer, Daniel W. O’Malley of Quincy, could not be reached for comment.
Analetto was convicted of one count of extortion for threatening a gambler who had owed $3,000 to a bookmaker for several months in the fall of 2011. The bookmaker owed Analetto money, and Analetto said he would help him collect his debt.
The jury did not reach a verdict, however, on a charge that Analetto extorted money from the bookmaker, Robert Russo, by threatening to kill him.
Analetto’s lawyer, O’Malley, had argued that the threats were nothing more than the bantering of a depressed man who had been abusing alcohol.
But Carris argued in court records that US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. can consider the evidence that was brought in the case, as well as the history of alleged threats, in determining the sentence.
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Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.