Former AZ corrections officer sentenced to prison

Barnum Haitshan, a former Arizona Department of Corrections officer, was one of dozens of corrections officers, military personnel and other federal and state officials ensnared in Operation Lively Green, a federal corruption investigation.

Haitshan, 36, ran 20 kilograms — roughly 44 pounds — of cocaine in March 2003, according to his plea agreement.

In sentencing Haitshan last week, U.S. District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson also ordered he pay $4,000 in fines, equal to the amount of money he was paid to transport cocaine. He will have to serve probation upon his release.

Jorgenson issued a warrant for Haitshan’s arrest in November after he didn’t show up for a sentencing hearing.

Haitshan’s attorney, Steven D. West, said at the time that his client was in Oklahoma with his mother, who had been hospitalized recently. West said his client would turn himself in immediately.

Haitshan, along with 55 other defendants prosecuted in federal court, pleaded guilty to corruption charges as part of an agreement that guaranteed nobody would receive more than a five-year prison sentence.