Former Public Officials Sentenced

WASHINGTON Two former public officials have been sentenced for their roles in a widespread bribery and extortion conspiracy which operated from January 2002 through March 2004. The defendants were sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona by the Honorable Cynthia K. Jorgenson. The two sentenced were: * Joy McBrayer Graham, 37, a former Arizona Army National Guardswoman, who was sentenced to four years probation and a $3,000 fine. * Mark Ryan Shipley, 24, a civilian falsely purporting to be serving in the Arizona Army National Guard, who was sentenced to 24 months in prison, a $3,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. The charges arise from Operation Lively Green, an undercover investigation conducted by the FBI that began in December 2001. The individuals are the final two defendants to be sentenced as part of this operation. Fifty-four additional defendants have previously been sentenced. The defendants had each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to enrich themselves by obtaining cash bribes from persons they believed to be narcotics traffickers - but who were in fact FBI special agents in return for the defendants using their official positions to assist, protect, and participate in the activities of an illegal narcotics trafficking organization engaged in the business of transporting and distributing cocaine from Arizona to other locations in the southwestern United States. In order to protect the shipments of cocaine, the defendants wore official uniforms, carried official forms of identification, used official vehicles, and used their color of authority where necessary to prevent police stops, searches and seizures of the narcotics as they drove the cocaine shipments on highways that passed through checkpoints manned by the U.S. Border Patrol, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and Nevada law enforcement officers.