Cop sold tips to bikers

Photo: CTV

In March, ex-cop Benoit Roberge pleaded guilty to charges of gangsterism and breach of trust. He was sentenced Friday.

An ex-Montreal police officer has been handed an eight-year prison term for selling sensitive information to criminal bikers.

Benoit Roberge was sentenced this morning at the Montreal courthouse.

Quebec court Judge Robert Marchi agreed with a joint Crown-defence recommendation — four years each for breach of trust and gangsterism to be served consecutively.

With time already spent in detention, Roberge has seven years and three months to serve.

He must serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

The Crown said Roberge sold information over a period of several months, ultimately pocketing about $125,000 which has mostly been returned to authorities.

A tearful Roberge explained during his guilty plea last month that he'd been threatened into co-operating with the gang and had made a mistake by not reporting it to his superiors.

The biker with whom he was associating, Rene Charlebois, committed suicide last year after escaping from a minimum-security jail.