Ex-cop gets probation, fine for on-duty theft from bar

A Philadelphia police officer who forfeited his 27-year career and pension when he was convicted of stealing $825 from a Northeast tavern was sentenced today to five years probation and fined $5,000.

Kenneth Crockett, 57, said nothing before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Earl W. Trent sentenced him in the 2010 theft from Pat's Cafe in the city's Northwood section.

Trent ordered Crockett to reimburse the stolen cash to the tavern's owner, Patrick Holloran.

Crockett and two other officers responded to a burglar alarm at a neighboring business at about 4 a.m. on July 27, 2010 when they saw that the basement door at Pat's Cafe was unlocked.

Police charged Crockett with theft after authorities said a surveillance video showed him take three bags of money from a bar safe.

Crockett insisted he was innocent and at trial in October he testified the video showed him picking up items that fell from his vest - not taking cash from the safe.

Assistant District Attorney Terri Domsky said she argued for a one- to two-year prison term because the crime was an "abuse of trust" and committed while Crockett was on duty.

Domsky noted that Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey wrote to the judge asking for the maximum five-year prison term.

Defense attorney L. George Parry urged a probationary sentence.

Parry said he submitted a series of letters from people Crockett helped during almost three decades on the force.

"These are people Crockett would help and then continue to check up on over the years," Parry added.

Domsky and Parry also noted that Holloran, the bar owner, wrote asking the judge not to impose jail time, just restitution.

Holloran has operated Pat's Cafe for almost 25 years and the site is considered somewhat sacred by police because Officer Gary Skerski was shot dead there during a 2006 armed robbery.

Contact Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985, jslobodzian@phillynews.com, or @joeslobo on Twitter.