City of Miami Police Officer Charged with Receipt of Stolen Property
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 17, 2010 |
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Miami Field Office, and Miguel Exposito, Chief, City of Miami Police Department, announced that Miami Police Officer Ricardo Martinez, 40, was charged in a criminal complaint with receipt and possession of stolen goods valued in excess of $1000, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 659 and 2. If convicted of these charges, the defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison.
According to the affidavit filed today in support of the criminal complaint, Martinez, a 12-year veteran of the Miami Police Department, planned to sell a shipment of stolen Bluetooth headsets with an individual known to the FBI. The shipment had been stolen from a truck in Miami after it arrived from Chicago. The defendant was caught loading boxes of stolen Bluetooth headsets into the back of a truck. According to the allegations in the complaint, the defendant was aware that the headsets were stolen, and expected to make 40% of the profits of the sale. The headsets are worth more than $100,000.
This afternoon, Martinez appeared before Magistrate Judge William C. Turnoff for a bond hearing. He was released on a $100,000 personal surety bond.
Mr. Ferrer commended the officers of the City of Miami Police Department Internal Affairs Section Anti-Corruption Unit and the Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work on this joint investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan R. Osborne.
A complaint is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.