Investing.com -- Ten Puerto Rican police officers have been indicted for their alleged participation in a criminal operation that operated out of their police department by using their status for additional monetary compensation through illicit means such as robbery, extortion and manipulation of court records.
The officers face 11 charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday in a statement. A handful of officers named in the indictment were also charged with narcotics trafficking, violation of civil rights and making false statements to federal agents.
The officers, according to the indictment, took part in a pattern of illegal conduct to enrich their criminal enterprise. For a period of several years, the officers conducted traffic stops and entered the homes of individuals suspected of criminal activity to steal money, firearms and narcotics among other items. During the searches, the officers allegedly planted evidence, extorted narcotics and stole firearms in exchange for the release of the suspects. In addition, the officers are accused of manipulating court records and failing to appear in court to help the suspects win a dismissal.
“The criminal action today dismantles a network of officers who, we allege, used their badges and their guns not to uphold the law, but to break it,” U.S. Attorney Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez said in a statement. “The indictment portrays a classic criminal shakedown; 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.”
Puerto Rico is currently teetering on the verge of bankruptcy due primarily to a prolonged debt crisis in which the commonwealth owes its bondholders more than $70 billion in repayments. In July, Puerto Rico governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla indicated that the debt crisis has put the government in an untenable position of choosing between paying the salaries of police, teachers and nurses or repaying the island's mountain of debt.
The case is being investigated by the FBI's San Juan division.