A former St. Louis police officer was sentenced Thursday to three months in prison for stealing and splitting $8,000 in drug-linked cash with other officers.

Leo Liston, 35, pleaded guilty in May and admitted stealing the money discovered during the raid of a beauty shop in the 1100 block of South Kingshighway in 2008. In all, officers seized 5 ounces of marijuana packaged in small baggies, a .44-caliber revolver and a total of $12,000 cash, according to prosecutors and the police report.

They turned in the gun, the pot and $4,055 to the department. Liston, Bobby Lee Garrett and at least one other officer split the rest of the cash, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said in May. The other officer has never been identified and the beauty shop owner has repeatedly declined interview requests.

Liston faced probation to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but he almost avoided charges altogether, Goldsmith said in court.

Investigators had originally approached Liston for information about other officers in the city’s crime suppression unit: Garrett and Vincent T. Carr who were suspected of stealing drugs and money.

Liston agreed to cooperate. But he went further, Goldsmith said, admitting the beauty shop theft.

Goldsmith, in court Thursday, said that Liston and lawyer Neil Bruntrager asked for a pass on the beauty shop case due to his “substantial assistance” with investigators.

But, Goldsmith said, he ultimately decided to charge Liston because he was the lead officer on the case and because he falsified a police report to cover up the theft.

Liston told U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber that he was embarrassed and ashamed of what he’d done.

Webber said that probation would send the wrong message to the public, and to police. He called police corruption “one of the most serious offenses that exist,” saying that “it causes enormous problems for the criminal justice system.”

The charges against Liston have caused the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office to dismiss 22 cases involving him in the last year, prosecutors said this summer. Dozens more have been dismissed because of Garrett and Carr.

Liston resigned in May, just four days before he was indicted on one count of misapplication of government funds, a felony. He pleaded pleaded guilty in May.

Garrett, 49, and Carr, 47, have both pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Garrett pleaded guilty Aug. 28 to theft of government property, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of making false statements and one count of misapplication of government funds.

Garrett admitted his role in the theft of drug-linked cash on three occasions in 2007 and 2008. He also admitted planting evidence in another man’s apartment, arresting an accused drug dealer’s landlord to cover up the theft of money and his role in falsifying court documents, lab forms and police reports.

Although he won’t be sentenced until Nov. 10, Garrett’s plea agreement means he will serve 28 months in federal prison.

Carr pleaded guilty Feb. 13 to five felony charges: obstruction of justice and two counts each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements.

Carr admitted that he and Garrett planted evidence, money and drugs, arrested an innocent man, split more than $28,000 in cash and lied on court documents related to a 2008 search of a duplex in the 1400 block of Arlington Avenue on June 6, 2008. They also lied to FBI agents investigating the allegations. Last week, Carr’s sentencing was postponed until Oct. 9.