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MUSKOGEE — A federal judge today sentenced Sawyer's former police chief to eight years in prison for raping a Texas woman he had pulled over on a traffic stop.

U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White disregarded as "absurd" a defense request to put Coke Douglas Makerney on probation instead of in prison.

Makerney, 48, was police chief in the Choctaw County town of Sawyer from 2003 until June 2007, when town officials learned of the rape allegation. He initially was suspended, but resigned a few days later.

"The defendant disgraced the badge he wore and trashed the oath he had sworn to faithfully uphold the law," U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling said after the sentencing.

Makerney pulled over the woman for a traffic stop on U.S. 70 on May 25, 2007. When another officer arrived on the scene, Makerney told him to go look for a brown vehicle that he said had been following the woman.

Sperling said that was a ruse that allowed Makerney to assault the motorist outside her car.

"The court agreed that this was a rape," Sperling said.

Makerney pleaded for leniency, saying he had lost his job, his home and his marriage.

His defense attorney asked for a departure from federal sentencing guidelines, urging White to impose probation with electronic monitoring, Sperling said.

Instead, White imposed an eight-year prison term without the possibility of parole. Makerney will be on probation for three years after he leaves prison.

The victim, a mother of two in her 30s, attended today's hearing and told prosecutors afterward she was "gratified and relieved" by Makerney's sentence, Sperling said.