Excellent: SFPD ‘shaken’ by federal indictments against officers

The Police Department was “shaken” Thursday by indictments unveiled against five current officers and one former officer for a host of federal charges, including constitutional-rights violations, extortion, lying in court and on police reports, and dealing drugs.

Excellent: SFPD ‘shaken’ by federal indictments against officers Greg_suhr

Excellent: SFPD ‘shaken’ by federal indictments against officers Greg_suhr

“Our department is shaken,” said a visibly upset Police Chief Greg Suhr. “I don’t know that it gets worse than this, other than an officer-involved serious injury or death, when the public trust is betrayed by sitting San Francisco police officers.”

The officers were all part of plainclothes investigation teams whose alleged misdeeds in searches conducted at single-room-occupancy hotels in the Mission district, the Tenderloin and on Sixth Street — including searching rooms without warrants — were captured on video discovered by the Public Defender’s Office in 2011.

The officers — Sgt. Ian Furminger, 47, of Pleasant Hill; Officer Edmond Robles, 46, of Danville; Officer Arshad Razzak, 41, of San Francisco; Officer Richard Yick, 37, of San Francisco; and Officer Raul Eric Elias, 44, of San Mateo — have all been suspended without pay effective immediately, said Suhr.

A sixth defendant, Reynaldo Vargas, 45, of Palm Desert, was removed from the force for an “unrelated” disciplinary issue, Suhr said.

Other police officers involved in the searches, whose misconduct did not pass “the federal criminal threshold,” could face administrative penalties, Suhr said.

Nobody on the Police Department’s command staff is suspected of wrongdoing, Suhr added, saying there is no evidence of a systemic problem throughout the SFPD.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who noted that “hundreds” of cases and convictions were dismissed or overturned after videos of the alleged incidents were made public, said footage seemed to contradict sworn statements the officers made on police reports and in court.

However, the officers’ alleged misdeeds go beyond what was caught on film, according to the indictments.

According to one indictment, in 2009 Furminger, Robles and Vargas stole a $500 Apple gift card from a suspect they had arrested. Two days later, according to the indictment, Vargas used the card to purchase an iPhone and an iPod nano.

In a separate incident the same year, the three officers allegedly took marijuana seized during a search, the indictment said. Vargas allegedly gave the pot to an informant, with the instructions to sell the drugs and split the proceeds with all three of the officers, the indictment said.

More: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/san-francisco-police-officers-indicted-by-feds/Content?oid=2716737

Excellent: SFPD ‘shaken’ by federal indictments against officers

Excellent: SFPD ‘shaken’ by federal indictments against officers

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