A former Tucson police officer was sentenced Monday to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to illegally accessing restricted computer databases.

Edwin R. Richards, 46, was fired in April after being indicted on six counts of computer tampering. The 16-year veteran was accused of accessing restricted databases, something that was discovered during an internal investigation last fall, police said.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields could have sentenced Richards - who pleaded guilty in June to one count of computer tampering - to two years in prison.

Richards is one of three Tucson-area law enforcement officers indicted on computer-tampering charges in the last year.

In December, former Marana police Officer Calvin Ingram, 40, was indicted on 25 counts of computer tampering; one count of trafficking in the identity of another person; and one count of taking the identity of another person.

Ingram pleaded guilty in June to four computer-tampering counts and faces up to two years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 20.

And in February, Tucson police Officer Angel Montalvo, 30, was indicted on nine counts of computer tampering and one count each of taking the identity of another, fraudulent schemes and artifices, and aggravated taking the identity of another.

Montalvo's case is pending.

Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at bjp@azstarnet.com or 573-4224.