[b]Ill. Officer Sentenced for Ammo Theft [/b]
By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO (AP)--A sheriff's officer caught on tape zealously singing about stealing ammunition from the department's firing range was sentenced to the maximum 16 months in prison.
William Jarding, 45, convicted of conspiracy to possess stolen ammunition, was ordered to report to federal prison Sept. 4.
``I can remember the zeal in his voice, the absolute joy he took in committing a crime,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols told U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly at sentencing Tuesday. Jarding had been convicted last October.
On the tape, secretly recorded by the FBI in November 1998, Jarding is heard singing a duet with decorated Chicago police officer Joseph Miedzianowski, whom the FBI was investigating.
``When they go to lunch, hi ho!'' Jarding sings.
``Hi, ho! There the ammo go,'' Miedzianowski chimes in.
Jarding was a Cook County shooting range instructor at the time.
Miedzianowski, 48, was investigating drug-selling gangs then. He was later convicted of running a Miami-to-Chicago cocaine pipeline and sentenced to life in prison.
Federal agents raided Miedzianowski's home in 1998 and found 50,000 rounds of ammunition, some with Cook County stamps on them. Prosecutors believe Jarding passed the ammunition to Miedzianowski in return for favors, including setting up Jarding in a $100-a-night moonlighting job checking IDs at a tattoo parlor.
Kennelly said it was unclear ``whether any of this ammunition went for nefarious purposes or not, but it certainly had the potential.''
AP-NY-06-25-03 1025EDT