Former officer gets 30 years for robbery, home invasion

By Nathan Gorenstein

Inquirer Staff Writer

A former Philadelphia police officer convicted of robbing a drug dealer and participating in a home invasion was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison.

The rogue officer, Malik Snell, was denounced by the judge, prosecutors, and city officials. The police commissioner sent a letter promising to melt Snell's badge "into a lump of metal."

Snell, who spent four years in the Marines and then nearly eight as a Philadelphia officer, sobbed as he asked for a lesser sentence, but U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick said he was deliberately exceeding federal guidelines.

"It is very difficult for this court to work up any compassion for you," Surrick said, noting that Snell had perjured himself "over and over again" and never explicitly acknowledged his crimes.

Snell was found guilty in June of conspiracy, attempted robbery, and a weapons charge, all stemming from a failed home invasion in Pottstown.

He was also convicted of stealing $40,000 in cash, hidden in a diaper bag, from Ricardo McKendrick Jr., a South Philadelphia drug kingpin. The incident occurred while Snell was in uniform. Surrick said he believed Snell had robbed other drug dealers.

Snell was discharged from the police force in 2008; the incidents occurred in 2007 while he was assigned to the 18th District in West Philadelphia. Two earlier trials had ended in hung juries.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey's comment came in a written letter. He had been scheduled to appear in court to ask for "the harshest penalty possible," but prosecutors said a flight delay and traffic jams prevented that.

"The badge he dishonored will be destroyed . . . melted into a lump of metal," Ramsey wrote.

Ramsey noted that when an officer is killed in the line of duty, that badge number is "permanently retired . . . as a final honor to these fallen heroes."

In Snell's case, Ramsey said, he was "acting out of disgust."

In court, Snell asked to be released from jail in time to help raise his youngest children, twins born just months before his arrest.

Snell said that if Surrick accepted Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Tsao's recommended sentence - as Surrick did - "I'll be too old, and that's not fair to my family and myself."

Wearing a silver cross and white T-shirt under his prison jumpsuit, Snell said, "I've made some very, very horrible decisions" and apologized to the city, the Police Department, and his family.

He did not apologize to a victim in the courtroom, Stephanie Welch, 27, a nurse who was severely injured when his SUV rammed a car as he was fleeing from police in 2007. Welch was a passenger and suffers permanent injuries.

Welch sobbed as she turned to Snell and said, "I've never done anything to you. . . . It's not fair that someone is saddled with this because he wanted to rob people."

Some two dozen friends and family members appeared in court in a show of support for Snell.

Defense attorney John I. McMahon Jr. of Norristown said Snell had three children from his current marriage. He also has a 9-year-old child from a previous marriage.

McMahon argued that until his crimes, Snell had lived an exemplary life. "He came from pretty tough beginnings," said McMahon. "He is not a person who is evil."

At his trial, Snell said he was doing his brother-in-law, Tyree Aimes, a favor when he agreed to drive him and a second man to Pottstown on the night of the break-in.

Snell and Aimes were arrested that same night after a chase that reached speeds of 130 m.p.h. Snell testified that he was fleeing in panic after realizing what Aimes had done.

Contact staff writer Nathan Gorenstein at 215-854-2747 or ngorenstein@phillynews.com.

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