TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in Trenton sentenced a 16-year Port Authority police detective to probation for his role in a mail fraud scheme.

Michael Palermo admitted he enlisted a cooperating witness to do work for free on his Jackson house and provide a bogus receipt that Palermo used as evidence in a lawsuit against a contractor.

The civil case was settled for $50,000 in January 2009.

The Asbury Park Press reports the 52-year-old was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution.

Palermo spent most of his career assigned to an FBI task force that investigated violent crimes and major thefts.