A former Longwood police chief

gets four years in federal prison for accepting $32,000 in bribes from a convicted felon.

An Orlando federal judge on Monday sentenced former Longwood Police Chief Tom S. Jackson to four years in prison for accepting $32,000 in bribes from a convicted felon.

An Orlando federal jury had found Jackson guilty in October of three counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy. He served as Longwood’s police chief from 1997 to 2010. Jurors concluded that Jackson broke the law when he took money from Samer S. Majzoub, 54, a convicted felon living in Heathrow, in exchange for hiring him at the Longwood Police Department.

State law bans police agencies from hiring convicted felons. It also prohibits felons from having guns. According to a federal grand jury, Jackson not only provided Majzoub with a job, he also provided a badge and use of a gun.

In 2007 Jackson began accepting payments — a series of personal checks — from Majzoub, who was convicted of securities fraud in New York 20 years ago. Jackson knew that and swore him in as a member of the Longwood Police Department on July 10, 2009, according to the indictment.

But current Police Chief David Dowda and defense attorney Robert Leventhal say Majzoub was never added to the city’s payroll. Leventhal said Jackson believed there was a legitimate way to have Majzoub cleared by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to become a certified law enforcement officer but that FDLE turned him down.

According to the indictment, Jackson swore him in first, a month before he sent the request to FDLE. A month later Majzoub gave Jackson a check for $5,500. That was one of six checks totaling $32,000 that Majzoub gave him between 2007 and 2010, ac- cording to the indictment.

Leventhal described those payments as loans. Jackson’s city salary was $98,000 a year.

Majzoub did get a badge and Longwood Police Department business cards, Leventhal said. Majzoub was given use of a cityowned gun but only at the department’s shooting range. Majzoub is currently a fugitive, named in the same indictment as Jackson.