Former Harris County Deputy and His Wife Going to Prison for Bribery

George Wesley Ellington

A former Harris County sheriff's deputy has been sentenced Thursday to five years in federal prison for twice accepting $500 from an alleged drug dealer in exchange for protection and access to confidential information.

George Wesley Ellington, 39, pleaded guilty in April to extortion under color of official right, which occurs when a government employee uses his or her position to obtain payment from a victim.

Ellington's wife, Tania Katrisse Ellington, 31, was sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison for knowingly concealing her husband's criminal activities.

Both prison terms will be without the possibility of parole and will be followed by periods of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.

The sentences were the culmination of a joint investigation by the FBI and the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which found that George Ellington used his position to provide access to law enforcement computer records to a man he knew was dealing the drug Ecstasy.

He also provided security to the alleged dealer.