Former Newport Police Chief Michael Capriglione will not serve any prison time after pleading guilty to charges including official misconduct.

Capriglione, who was chief in Newport for 38 years, was sentenced in New Castle County Superior Court Thursday to two years of probation for crashing into a parked police vehicle in the town hall parking lot, lying to city officials and officers about it and ordering the deletion of surveillance video of the crash.

He will be released from the second year of probation once he repays $8,600 in restitution to the city to change the locks. He is also barred from being a police officer ever again.

The crash occurred in May 2018 when Capriglione was leaving to teach a defensive driving course. The collision was captured on video, which prosecutors, police and the courts have declined to make public.

Prosecutors said Capriglione did not report the crash and lied to another officer and at least one city official about it. That officer copied the video from surveillance footage, he said.

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Surveillance video shows Capriglione entering the room where security data is stored after midnight. Later, technicians were called to work on the system.

Prosecutors have not been clear on exactly how the need for technicians to work on the system and Capriglione's presence in the room are related.

Technicians then deleted all the footage on the system at Capriglione's orders. He said his intention wasn't to conceal the footage of the crash because he knew the other officer had already copied it.

He was initially indicted on charges of felony tampering with physical evidence, misdemeanor official misconduct, careless or inattentive driving and failure to provide information at the scene of a collision.

In exchange for his plea to the two misdemeanor charges, prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor offense and the felony charge of tampering with physical evidence in February.

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He faced up to a year in prison. Deputy Attorney General Sonia Augusthy told the judge her office didn't have a specific number but felt his crimes warranted some prison time. She said his actions damaged public trust in police.

She pointed to the record of the footage's deletion, which showed it was deleted "at request of the chief."

"That is why this case is different," Augusthy said. "He was the chief."

His attorney, James E. Liguori said it would be "unconscionable" that Capriglione, with four decades of police work, be ordered to prison.

"You can appreciate the public embarrassment this has caused," he said. "We have a reputation that was tarnished, a career that was ended."

Superior Court Judge Noel Primos said one year of probation, the sentence prescribed by guidelines, would send the wrong message to lying public officials. Instead, he ordered him to potentially two years of probation, which will become one year after he pays the city restitution.

"You engaged in a cover-up," Primos said.

Addressing the judge, Capriglione apologized. Afterward, he was not so meek.

"This was their way to get rid of me," he said. "Bottom line."

He was suspended shortly after his indictment. City officials sent him a termination letter but he said he retired before it took effect. He was paid a $125,000 annual base salary to run the department at the time of his arrest.

Capriglione disputed multiple aspects of prosecutors' statements, including that he ordered the video be deleted specifically to get rid of the crash video or any implication that he was in the video server room as part of a cover-up.

Following the hearing, Augusthy declined comment when asked about specifics of Capriglione's crime.

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A year after his indictment, no police report detailing the specifics of each aspect of his crime and how it was reported has been made public.

Liguori criticized prosecutors for filing a public sentencing memorandum ahead of his sentencing with the courts.

Such memos typically set out the nature of the crime, how it was discovered and what prosecutors think the appropriate sentence would be. He said normal practice is to file those so they can't be seen by the public.

That memo was sent to the courts earlier this week, reviewed by Primos before the hearing but has not been made available to the public despite requests to the courts. Prosecutors have declined to provide it or video tied to the case, stating that the courts must first docket the items.

Linda Carmichael, an attorney for Superior Court, said the items were docketed hours after the hearing and must be reviewed to redact sensitive information before public disclosure.

She said videos submitted as part of the sentencing could be viewed once they are docketed but that court officials "do not have the equipment" to allow for copying.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.