Former police detective convicted on bribery and drug charges

Accused of soliciting sex from his informants in exchange for helping to reduce the potential sentences of their boyfriends, a former Pennsylvania police detective was convicted Friday of federal program bribery, bribery by a federal official, distribution of heroin, and six counts of false statements.

After joining the Carlisle Police Department in 1996, Detective Christopher Collare served as a member of the Cumberland County Drug Task Force between November 2011 and May 2018. From November 2015 to May 2018, Det. Collare was also a task force officer with the FBI’s Capital City Safe Streets Task Force in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

According to his indictment, Collare recruited several female heroin addicts as confidential informants and allowed them to keep drugs purchased from controlled buys. In 2015, Collare arrested the boyfriend of his informant for drug possession and asked the informant for sex in exchange for not appearing at an evidentiary hearing so that a criminal charge would be dismissed. In 2018, Collare received sexual favors from another informant in exchange for taking steps to help reduce a potential sentence against her boyfriend.

Collare lied on a federal form he completed during the process of becoming an FBI task force officer in November 2015. He also made multiple false statements in an interview with federal agents in May 2018.

In January 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Collare for bribery, drug distribution, fraud, and making false statements. On Friday, the former detective was convicted of federal program bribery, bribery by a federal official, distribution of heroin, and six counts of making false statements.

Collare faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for federal program bribery, 15 years in prison for bribery by a federal official, 20 years in prison for distribution of heroin and five years in prison for false statements. According to Cumberland County District Attorney Skip Ebert, at least 22 cases have been halted or not prosecuted due to Collare’s involvement.