The tiny Miami village of just over 3,000 people had a near-perfect burglary
clearance rate, a fine achievement for any police force.
But, he had four unsolved burglaries on his hands.
So, say prosecutors, Chief Raimundo Atesiano and two officers hatched a
plan:
They
allegedly framed the burglaries on a 16-year-old.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced that it had indicted Atesiano
and patrol officers Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez for conspiring to
violate a juvenile's civil rights by intentionally making a false arrest.
Prosecutors say Atesiano directed the officers to arrest T.D. in June 2013
and charge him with unsolved burglaries at four homes "knowing that there
was no evidence and no lawful basis to support such charges."
The next month, Atesiano went to a Biscayne Park city council meeting and
announced that his department had a 100 percent clearance rate for
burglaries, the indictment said.
"The existence of this fictitious 100% clearance rate of reported burglaries
was used by Atesiano to gain favor with elected officials and concerned
citizens," the indictment said. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office and
U.S. Attorney's Office worked the case together.
They are no longer with the department
Atesiano abruptly resigned in early 2014,
the
Miami Herald reported. He made an initial court appearance on June
11, and his arraignment is set for June 25.
Atesiano's lawyer Neil Schuster declined to comment on the case to CNN.
Fernandez and Dayoub are no longer with the department either. They have
court appearances later in the month. It's unclear whether they have
retained lawyers.
If convicted, Atesiano and the officers each face a maximum sentence of
11 years in prison.
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