A former Rockford police officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to an armed robbery at a bus station in July 2018. Yuliya Kuznets and former Rockford Metro Enforcement officer James Akerman both pleaded guilty to the armed robbery Tuesday before a Winnebago County judge. Kuznets and Akerman had worked together at Rockford Metro Enforcement, a private security company, but had both quit before the robbery took place.
After they were identified as suspects in the robbery, a police SWAT team raided the home Kuznets and Akerman shared. They found 1000 rounds of ammunition, six guns, and more than 4,000 pills, including Oxycontin, morphine, and hydrocodone. Kuznets and Akerman were not home at the time and were arrested without incident later that day at another location.
Both Kuznets and Akerman were eligible for six to 30 years in prison for the armed robbery. Both received 20.
Kuznets was a Rockford police officer from 2005 to 2013. She was fired for undisclosed reasons.
