A judge on Thursday sentenced a former Jefferson police captain to a year in prison for having a gun while using crack cocaine, but declined to increase the sentence for a grenade found in the ex-officer’s car.

A small, olive-colored grenade was presented as evidence during a sentencing hearing for Dennis Lamar Thomas in U.S. District Court in Gainesville. The grenade had long since been disabled, but at one time was packed with five times the amount of black powder typically used in the military-issue, "pineapple"-style explosive, according to testimony.

Sheriff’s investigators found the grenade in a duffel bag in the floorboard of a car belonging to Thomas, a law enforcement veteran of 20 years who was arrested in October 2008.

Jackson County Sheriff’s officials were called to a home for a report of Thomas violating a protective order taken out against him by his ex-wife. During a search of Thomas, a deputy found a loaded .38-caliber handgun and a crack pipe in his pockets.

Thomas, 50, was indicted on federal charges of possessing a firearm while unlawfully using a controlled substance and possessing a destructive device not registered to him. He pleaded guilty to the gun charge, and the grenade charge was dismissed by prosecutors.

The prosecution still sought to use the grenade as relevant conduct in Thomas’ sentencing, however. Deputies found four grenade shells in Thomas’ bag, but only one contained black powder. It did not have a fuse.

According to testimony, Thomas told an ATF agent that the grenade shells were given to him by a friend and he had no idea any of them were "live." He said the friend wanted to use the shells to make novelty plaques. Thomas told the agent that the bag containing the grenade shells was in the floorboard of his 1994 Geo Tracker for about three weeks before it was seized.

Judge William C. O’Kelley said he decided to give Thomas "the benefit of the doubt."

The judge noted that a mishap inside Thomas’ car could have detonated the grenade.

"It would have exploded and we wouldn’t have been here, because he would already be buried somewhere," O’Kelley said. "Anyone with any common sense would not have been hauling it around in his vehicle for several weeks ...

"I just have a hard time believing he really knew he had one with powder in it — I just don’t believe he was that dumb."

Thomas told the judge that he was "sorry for the wrong I did my family."

"I have got my heart and head back together," Thomas said. "I’ve got to get my life back on track like it should be."

Because of his conviction, Thomas can no longer own firearms, effectively ending his law enforcement career.

Thomas was investigated during a probe of the Jefferson Police Department under former Chief Darren Glenn in 2006 and 2007 but was never indicted. He was fired from the force in 2007, a year before his arrest.