MIAMI — A former Miami police officer convicted of shaking down drug dealers for hundreds of thousands of dollars in coke and cash was sentenced to 11 years in prison following his guilty plea to an off-duty extortion scheme.

Frenel Cenat, 41, who had worked in the police department’s property room protecting evidence used in criminal investigations, admitted that he used his badge and unmarked police-issued vehicle to stop drug-trafficking suspects in Broward County. His M.O.: stealing cocaine and money from the suspects while threatening to put them in jail. He was taken down in an FBI sting operation last year.

Cenat apologized to U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who showed no sympathy for the 17-year police veteran, calling his crime a “betrayal” of the public’s trust. The judge noted only that he accepted responsibility for this crime soon after his arrest, and then condemned his wrongdoing.

“This is not a case of a police officer going into a Best Buy and stealing a pair of iPods,” Cohn said. “This is a case of a police officer using all of the trappings of his position to extort ostensible criminals in exchange for their release from going to jail.”

Cohn ordered Cenat to surrender to prison authorities immediately, rejecting his defense lawyer’s request for a one-month delay. Cenat, who lived with his family in Boynton Beach while free on bond, looked back at his crying family members as he was escorted by U.S. Marshals deputies out of the courtroom.

Cenat was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, so he ended up getting one more year in prison based on a recommendation by a federal prosecutor.

“By these actions, the defendant completely betrayed the trust placed in him by the [Miami Police Department] and the community he was sworn to serve and protect,” federal prosecutor Edward Stamm said in a sentencing memo, recommending an 11-year prison term.

Stamm said the police officer took a total of $132,000 in cash that was represented to be drug proceeds and seven kilos of what was represented to be cocaine, in exchange for allowing the drivers of those vehicles to leave and not be arrested.

Cenat’s defense lawyer, Howard Schumacher, worked out the agreement with Stamm, instead of being charged by indictment and face trial. Schumacher asked the judge for the mandatory minimum sentence — 10 years.

“As a result of his conduct in this matter, he has lost his position, his pension and his family is further struggling with the loss of his income,” Schumacher wrote in a sentencing memo. He noted that Cenat, who lives with his wife and two children in Boynton Beach, only started to earn more than $100,000 a year as a police officer after the department gave him credit for a master’s degree in public administration.

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