Police chief and two officers accused of framing teenager for burglaries to boost public image

Florida police chief wanted to 'gain favour with elected officials and concerned citizens', prosecutors say

Raimundo Atesiano headed a department of 11 full-time police officers and two reserve officers (File photo) (iStock)

A former police chief in Florida who wanted to appear to be a successful crime fighter instructed two officers to arrest a 16-year-old for four burglaries, even though they had no evidence that the teenager was the culprit, authorities said.

The chief, Raimundo Atesiano, and the officers, Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez, were charged this week with conspiracy against the right to be free from unreasonable seizure by the police, and depriving the teenager, identified as TD, of that right, according to the indictment.

An initial hearing for Mr Atesiano was held on Monday in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami. He was granted a $50,000 (£38,000) personal surety bond and will be arraigned on 25 June. The other two defendants are scheduled to have court appearances later this month, court records show.

If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, a statement from the US attorney’s office said. Mr Atesiano’s lawyer, Neil M Schuster, declined to comment on Wednesday.

The US attorney’s office and city officials were not available on Wednesday to comment on Mr Atesiano’s career as a law enforcement official and what impact the accusations had on the teenager’s life.

The Village of Biscayne Park, a small community with a population of about 3,200, had 11 full-time police officers and two reserve officers in 2013, when Mr Atesiano headed the department.

The department had just recorded a decrease in the number of burglaries in 2012, down to 19 from 36 in 2011.

On 13 June, 2013, with three burglaries in April and one in May unsolved, Mr Atesiano “caused and encouraged” Mr Dayoub and Mr Fernandez to falsely arrest TD, the indictment said.

Mr Fernandez, who was a reserve police officer, is said to have written and notarised arrest affidavits, while Mr Dayoub, a full-time officer, signed them. TD was given felony charges for the four burglaries of unoccupied residences, the indictment said.

The next month, Mr Atesiano was able to present the city with a perfect record of solving burglaries, though the indictment called that “fictitious”.

He did this “to gain favour with elected officials and concerned citizens”, the indictment said, telling a City Council meeting on 9 July 2013, “that his department had a 100 per cent clearance rate for burglaries”.

The New York Times