Former Philadelphia Police Officer Found Guilty of Bribing Detective

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced that retired Philadelphia Police Officer Victor Gates was found guilty today by a federal jury of honest services mail fraud conspiracy, honest services mail fraud, and making false statements. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding the defendant guilty.

Gates bribed his friend Patrick Pelosi, a Philadelphia Police detective, to misuse his official position and access a law enforcement database of stolen cars in exchange for corrupt monthly payments.

Gates owned a company called Auto Recovery Services LLC, and one of his clients was Avis. Gates would have Pelosi remove certain stolen cars from the National Crime Information Center database so that Avis could rent them out to its customers. The defendant initially lied to police by denying that he made payments of any kind to Pelosi, although he later stated that he had made payments for “help” with the actual physical work of locating cars. Pelosi previously pled guilty and resigned from the Philadelphia Police Department in January 2017.

Between May 2008 and April 2013, Gates mailed a $300.00 check on a monthly basis to Pelosi’s home. Those payments increased to $400.00 per month between May 2013 and October 2014.

“This was a long-running, corrupt money-making scheme that is all the more egregious because the defendant has a law enforcement background,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “I want to thank the jury for its swift condemnation of Gates’ actions.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Philadelphia Police Department, Internal Affairs Division, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Gibson.