A former dispatcher for the Gardendale Police Department has struck a deal with federal prosecutors, on a charge that he illegally used computers that are part of state and national law-enforcement databases.

The plea bargain by Derrick R. Thomas, 38, of Warrior was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Birmingham late Friday afternoon. Thomas is pleading guilty to a single charge of using a protected computer to illegally access the data on behalf of an unauthorized person outside the department.

Thomas queried the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center and the National Crime Information Center on at least four individuals for other than law enforcement purposes, at the request of someone who was not a law enforcement officer, according to the plea agreement. These acts occurred between 2011 and 2014.

The rimes were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Thomas faces a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison plus a fine of $250,000.