PUERTO RICO – A federal grand jury indicted 16 current and former Puerto Rican police officers for racketeering, robbery, extortion, firearm, narcotics, civil rights and theft charges, according to authorities.
The officers ran a criminal organization out of the police department that used their affiliation with law enforcement to make money through robbery, extortion, manipulating court records and selling illegal narcotics, the indictment stated.
“ The criminal action today dismantles an entire network of officers who, we allege, used their badges and their guns not to uphold the law, but to break it,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil.
Adding, “The indictment portrays a classic criminal shakedown, an organized crime spree of which the most experienced mafia family would have been proud. But the people wielding the guns and stealing the drugs here weren’t mob goodfellas or mafia soldiers – these were police officers violating their oaths to enforce the law, making a mockery of the police’s sacred responsibility to protect the public. ”
The indictment, returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico, includes 36 charges against the following individuals:
- Osvaldo Vazquez-Ruiz, 38
- Orlando Sierra-Pereira, 37
- Danny Nieves-Rivera, 34
- Roberto Ortiz-Cintron, 34
- Yovanny Crespo-Candelaria, 33
- Jose Sanchez-Santiago, 31
- Miguel Perez-Rivera, 34
- Nadab Arroyo-Rosa, 33
- Jose Flores-Villalongo, 52
- Luis Suarez-Sanchez, 36
- Eduardo Montañez-Perez, 29
- Carlos Laureano-Cruz, 40
- Carlos Candelario-Santiago, 46
- Ruben Casiano-Pietri, 36
- Ricardo Rivera-Rodriguez, 39
- Christian Valles-Collazo, 28
At the time of the crimes charged, Flores-Villalongo and Candelario-Santiago were sergeants with the Police of Puerto Rico; the others were police officers.
According to the indictment, this is what happened:
- The officers charged with RICO conspiracy were members of a criminal organization who sought to enrich themselves through a pattern of illegal conduct.
- The officers worked together to conduct traffic stops and enter homes or buildings used by persons suspected of being engaged in criminal activity to steal money, property and narcotics.
- The officers planted evidence to make false arrests, then extorted money in exchange for their victims’ release from custody.
- In exchange for bribe payments, the defendants gave false testimony, manipulated court records and failed to appear in court when required so that cases would be dismissed.
- The officers also sold and distributed wholesale quantities of narcotics.
- For example, in April 2012, defendants Vazquez-Ruiz and Sierra-Pereira allegedly conducted a traffic stop in their capacity as police officers and stole approximately $22,000 they believed to be illegal drug proceeds. Vazquez-Ruiz later attempted to extort approximately $8,000 from an individual they believed to be a drug dealer’s accomplice in exchange for promising to release an alleged prisoner.
- In another example, the indictment alleges that in November 2012, defendants Sierra-Pereira, Nieves-Rivera, Ortiz-Cintron and Valles-Collazo illegally entered an apartment and stole approximately $30,000, which they believed were illegal lottery proceeds.
The indictment charges that the defendants frequently shared the proceeds they illegally obtained and that they used their power, authority and official positions as police officers to promote and protect their illegal activity.
Among other things, the indictment charges that they used police firearms, badges, patrol cars, tools, uniforms and other equipment to commit the crimes and concealed their illegal activity with fraudulently obtained court documents and falsified POPR paperwork to make it appear that they were engaged in legitimate police work.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.