FREMONT, Neb. -- A former Dodge County Attorney from Fremont will serve just under a year of prison time for a civil rights violation.

U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said 47-year-old Oliver Glass, of Fremont, was sentenced on Friday for conspiracy to commit deprivation of rights under color of law. Glass will serve 9 months of incarceration with a one-year term of supervised release after. There is no parole in the federal system. As part of his sentence, Glass will pay a $3,000 fine.

Glass was appointed as the Dodge County Attorney in 2011 and was again elected in 2014 and 2018. In 2020, Glass’s wife filed for divorce and on March 6, 2020. According to court records, Glass learned that his wife had been dating someone new.

Officials said from around March 6, 2020 until about Dec. 22, 2020, Glass planned with other people, who are unnamed, to unlawfully stop or arrest his wife's new partner. 

Authorities said Glass and others used their restricted access to the Nebraska Criminal Justice Information System to gain information about the victim. A supervisor in the Fremont Police Department told other officers that the victim was dating Glass’s wife and to be on the lookout for them. The supervisor gave the officers the victim's information, vehicle description, and license plate number.

The report said an officer within the Dodge County law enforcement community, while acting as a private investigator, used his law enforcement credentials to gain access the victim's criminal history that was not publicly available. Members of law enforcement in Dodge County would drive by the victim's apartment looking for them without legal justification or criminal predicate.

Chief Judge Robert Rossiter noted Glass’s breach of his ethical professional obligations and the public trust stating, “You were an attorney; you took an oath. You were a prosecutor; you took an oath. You were the elected County Attorney; you took an oath. You broke those oaths. You breached the public trust.”

According to court documents, one of the victims wrote to the Court in their impact statement, “It's impossible to communicate the mental anguish and constant state of fear I felt when Mr. Glass was illegally monitoring my actions and using his close connections to stalk me. No one should have to endure that kind of terror. Of not knowing whether the ‘good guys’ are really ‘good’ just because they wear the uniform. Or, wondering if today is the day you will be framed or falsely arrested just to demonstrate the reach Mr. Glass had.”

Officials said Russell quoted the words spoken by then Attorney General and eventual Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson in 1940, “While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst. Oliver Glass, in this matter, did act with malice and from base motives while abusing his office. This type of behavior undermines the public’s trust in the criminal justice system, and I hope that this sentence helps restore that trust.”

FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said, “Oliver Glass used the power of his elected office to carry out a personal vendetta. Over and over again, he abused his authority by violating the rights of his victim. His sentencing today is a reminder that the FBI will always hold government officials accountable when they willfully deprive someone of their Constitutional rights.”