Ex-IRS Agent Sentenced For Taking Bribe

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A former Internal Revenue Service agent has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for taking a bribe in exchange for lowering taxes of a Minnesota business.

Forty-one-year-old Roger Coombs of Circle Pines was sentenced in federal court Thursday. He pleaded guilty in August.

Coombs admitted to taking $9,700 from the two owners of the business following an IRS audit. Prosecutors say Coombs told the two he could make the $60,000 they owed in taxes "manageable" and would arrange for the IRS to accept $11,000 instead.

After Coombs solicited the bribe, the business owners went to authorities. He was arrested in June after getting the final payment.