A reserve officer who had volunteered for the Krebs Police Department for the past three years resigned Friday, a week after three people he arrested last year were given suspended sentences in what had been a federal case involving counterfeit IDs.

Suspended sentences were handed down in reduced state charges last week after an audio recording emerged in which the former officer, Ryan Hutchison, is heard using a racial epithet about the four men arrested during a traffic stop. Marijuana and two large mailing envelopes containing several Texas IDs and checkbooks were found in the car during the late night traffic stop on U.S. Highway 69.

“We had an officer that made a traffic stop on a speeding violation and he said some unappropriate things on a video tape,” Krebs Police Chief Dennis Cook said Friday, adding that Hutchison had resigned at 9 that morning. “I’m not going to tolerate that type of conduct on a traffic stop. We as police officers should be more disciplined in the choosing of our wording.”

U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling said Friday that the racial epithet was “embarrassing.”

“We have high standards,” he said. “We encourage officers in our district to properly comport themselves. The overwhelming majority consistently do so.”

State charges against the four men — Korell Rahsaud Harp, 24, William Earl Bill, 33, and Kelvin Lamont Jackson, 33, all of Dallas, and Antonio D. Jackson, 30, of Fyffe, Ala. — were filed in Pittsburg County District Court in September, two days after the traffic stop. The case included two counts of conspiracy and one of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle against each of the men, 11 counts of possessing fake Texas driver’s licenses against Harp (four), Bill (five), and Kelvin Jackson (two), and one count of misdemeanor marijuana possession against Harp. Bill was also charged with misdemeanor speeding (67 mph in a 55 zone on U.S. Highway 69 at Electric), and driving without a valid license. The 17-count case included a prior conviction enhancement for Bill for a Texas forgery conviction in 2004 that resulted in a four-year sentence.

Charges against Antonio Jackson were dropped in December.

The following month, the federal grand jury indicted the remaining three defendants — those documents listed Harp as being from Barnesville, Ga. — for alleged possession with intent to use five or more false identification documents, aggravated identity theft and 11 counts of possession of a counterfeit security with intent to deceive. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Muskogee announced the charges resulted from an investigation by the FBI.

Last week, Harp, Bill and Kelvin Jackson pleaded guilty in Pittsburg County District Court to a single count apiece of possessing fictitious identification and two-year sentences were suspended for each. District Attorney Jim Bob Miller said the plea bargains were negotiated between the U.S. Attorney’s office in Muskogee and the defense attorneys in the case, and he agreed to the plea bargains at the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Wilson.

“They can’t give suspended sentences” at the federal court level, Miller explained. “In federal court they don’t have a way of doing a suspended sentence. If you’re found guilty, there is a sentencing range set by federal statute.” Such negotiations between the two prosecutorial offices are common, Miller said.

“Frankly, I think we’d have been hard pressed to get them to prison because we were having a hard time trying to find funds related to these bogus IDs,” Miller said. “There were fake checkbooks, counterfeit checks. But we don’t have any evidence they tried to pass these checks anywhere.”

The federal indictments were dismissed this week because the state court disposition was more appropriate, Sperling said.

“We respectfully submit that this outcome is consistent with our oaths and our obligation to use common sense and discernment.”

Sperling said he and his staff looked at both the comments made by the Krebs police officer and the allegations against the men who were charged.

“I don’t want a defendant to get a windfall, given what he has done,” Sperling said. “On the other hand, I won’t ignore factors that should be taken into consideration.”

Miller said the actions were “kind of abundantly stupid, if you’re saying something inappropriate while it’s being recorded. Everybody makes mistakes, I guess, but why are you talking about it in the first place? Why are you talking about it on a recording?”

Cook said Hutchison was one of five unpaid reserve officers the Krebs Police Department uses, along with seven paid officers.

Meanwhile, Hutchison has not replied to requests for an interview.