WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:
- A former police chief of the Biscayne Park Police Department in Miami-Dade County, Florida got three years in prison for framing black men for crimes they did not commit.
- Raimundo Atesiano admitted that he did that to boost his department’s statistics in solving crimes.
- On Tuesday, the 53-year-old former South Florida chief was sentenced by a federal judge for conspiracy to deny individuals of their civil rights.
Raimundo Atesiano, 53, former police chief of a small Florida city, has been sentenced three years in jail for a conspiracy in his department, framing black people for crimes they did not commit.
According to the Miami Herald, Atesiano told U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore that he was not prepared when he took the job.
“I made some very, very bad decisions,” Atesiano told the judge before sentencing.
The former police chief of the Biscayne Park Police Department in Miami-Dade County was given two weeks before he’s locked up. He was given this time to spend with his terminally ill mother.
In October, three other former Biscayne Park officers namely Charlie Dayoub Guillermo Ravelo and Raul Fernandez, had been sentenced for their participation in the conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, Atesiano ordered the three officers to arrest and charge three black men for unsolved burglaries on three different occasions. One of those falsely arrested was a 16-year-old who was also falsely accused.
Ravelo was sentenced to 27 months in prison while Davoub and Fernandez got one year each.
On Tuesday, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle issued a statement saying: “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.
“Miami-Dade’s residents deserve honesty and integrity, qualities that Raimundo Atesiano deliberately failed to deliver.”
One of the three victims had served five years in prison. He was arrested and charged for a series of burglaries that he was falsely accused of committing. The man has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the town and the former officers of violating his civil rights.
In September, he was acquitted by a judge.
Source: Huff Post
