Former Biscayne Park police chief Raimundo Atesiano plead guilty to framing Black people for unsolved burglaries to improve the city’s crime rate. Biscayne Park has a population of 3,000.
The individuals arrested for the alleged crimes were known to police officers as already having a criminal past.
Three officers have also plead guilty for conspiracy.
Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez, were each sentenced to a year in prison for falsely arresting a 16-year old juvenile for four burglaries.The third, Guillermo Ravelo, will serve 27 months for two separate incidents: falsely arresting one individual with two residential burglaries and another with five vehicle robberies, both without probable cause.
“Putting an arrest statistic above the rights of an innocent man instead of working to protect all our citizens undermines the safety goals of every Miami-Dade police department,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a press release. “Miami-Dade’s residents deserve honesty and integrity, qualities that Raimundo Atesiano deliberately failed to deliver.”
Atesiano blamed his not being prepared to be a police chief for his “mistakes”. He will report to prison in two weeks.
Los Angeles County residents just elected the first Latino Sheriff in the history of the state of California, who lacks experience in commanding officers. Lets hope he does’t make similar costly mistakes.
Read the full article on MiamiHerald.com.
