Orlando Lopez and his master plan to destroy our police department.

[Unregistered]

Commissioner Catalino Rodriguez has yet to explain to the FBI how all of the property under his watch went missing. Passing the buck to a "civilian employee" does not cut the mustard. He was in charge of the property room and responsible for its contents. We hope the FBI finally comes calling. A vote for this crew is a vote for continued corruption.

Thousands in cash missing from Sweetwater police evidence room
BY MELISSA SANCHEZ
10/30/2013 1:18 AM 10/30/2013 8:35 AM

Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance of thousands of dollars in cash from a Sweetwater police evidence room, Sweetwater Mayor José M. Díaz said Tuesday.

Money is also missing from payments made to recover towed vehicles in the city following police arrests, Díaz said.

“As far as I know, it amounts to thousands of dollars,” Díaz said. “I don’t know who was responsible for that money.”

Díaz’s revelations took place at a press conference called to show off a new bicycle patrol — an attempt to erase the “shadows” that have fallen upon the city in recent months.

In August, FBI agents arrested then-Mayor Manny Maroño, together with the mayor of Miami Lakes and two lobbyists, in an undercover corruption operation.

According to a document filed Tuesday in federal court, Maroño and one of the lobbyists, Jorge Forte, plan to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty om one count of conspiring to commit fraud during a Nov. 12 hearing in Fort Lauderdale. Both face up to five years in federal prison.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating possible links between Sweetwater officers or officials to the towing company, Southland, which operated under a verbal agreement with the city until February. Several sources have said authorities are looking into whether police officers or other officials received kickbacks in exchange for directing business to the company.

State records show that Maroño was the company’s owner until 2009, though he continued to represent it during negotiations in Doral the following year. El Nuevo Herald and CBS4 have been investigating Southland and its connections in Sweetwater for months.

The feds looked at other issues in Sweetwater. In early September, interim Sgt. Reny García and detective Octavio Oliu were suspended from their jobs as part of a federal investigation, sources said. A week before, the FBI arrested detective William García on charges of credit card fraud and identify theft.

Díaz said money missing from the evidence room had been seized during arrests.

The man in charge of supervising evidence at the time the investigation began was Catalino Rodríguez, a longtime officer who resigned on Oct. 7, the same night that he was named city commissioner.

He denied taking any money.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Rodríguez said. “My conscience is clean.”

Rodríguez said that early in October, two reserve officers and a civil employee entered the evidence room without explaining why and began to remove evidence. Rodríguez, who thought they were following instructions from the new mayor, said he felt offended for not having been informed of their actions.

“There were drugs, money, weapons in there,” Rodríguez said. “If thousands of dollars are missing, maybe they should investigate why evidence was removed from the room that day.”

Last week it was revealed that some detectives kept evidence, including counterfeit luxury handbags and clothes, as well as machines for detecting fake currency, in a secret evidence room on an off-site warehouse. A commander who oversaw these detectives has told authorities Maroño authorized the use of the warehouse earlier this year.

Rodríguez said he did not know that this evidence room even existed.

It is not clear how much money is missing from the evidence room at the Police Department, or from the fines collected from individuals whose cars had been towed.

For years, former Police Chief Robert Fulgueira was the person responsible for reviewing the receipts from the towing fees and counting the money. Fulgueira, who resigned last week, did not return phone messages Monday or Tuesday .

According to invoices reviewed by El Nuevo Herald and CBS 4, Sweetwater police would routinely call Southland to tow vehicles after arrests for anything from drug possession to driving with a suspended license.

Before recovering a towed vehicle from Southland, individuals had to first to pay the city of Sweetwater a fine of $500 in cash — a fee recently reduced to $250.

According to Rodríguez, individual cash payments were wrapped in a copy of the invoice and deposited in a postal box located inside the department.

Two people had keys to the mailbox: Rodríguez and Fulgueira. According to Rodríguez, Fulgueira was the main person who would process the three to four payments that came in per week.

After counting the money, Fulgueira handed the cash along with the invoice to deputy chief Roberto Ochoa, who then deposited the money with the Finance Department.

But on Oct. 2 Fulgueira separated himself from the process and assigned the review of payments to Ochoa. The deputy chief then established a set of directives to clarify when towing a vehicle is justified during an arrest. Under the new written directives, which have been given to all officers, the vehicle has to have been used to commit the alleged offense and therefore be considered evidence in order to justify a towing.

Ochoa said not a single case has warranted calling the towing company since he took over the job.

The city’s new police chief, Jesús “Jesse” Menocal, said the procedures will help eliminate any confusion among officers.

“When there is no organization, there is always room for chaos and all kinds of dysfunctional practices,” Menocal said. “Rules must be established so that people won’t have excuses for not doing the right thing.”


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...#storylink=cpy

[Unregistered]

Dark days ahead for SPD if Lopez gets elected.

[Unregistered]

Looks like a lot of people in the brass are very very worried of Lopez gets elected since none of them have ever been promoted through the proper process and no they're going to get canned. A lot of people have no experience starting with your chief who is the laughingstock of law-enforcement. You guys should ask him about George prince and his history with them. Or how he and his brother got canned from the city of Miami but that's okay he turned over a new leaf he's all legit now

[Unregistered]

Looks like a lot of people in the brass are very very worried of Lopez gets elected since none of them have ever been promoted through the proper process and no they're going to get canned. A lot of people have no experience starting with your chief who is the laughingstock of law-enforcement. You guys should ask him about George prince and his history with them. Or how he and his brother got canned from the city of Miami but that's okay he turned over a new leaf he's all legit now

And what will you City of Miami know-it-alls bring to the table? As far as I know the worst case of corruption in the history of Miami Dade County was perpetrated by your River Cops or have you forgotten about that one? How about all those questionable shootings and beatings? Does Lozano, Luis Alvarez trials or the beating death of "Cano" Mercado mean anything to you? Every law enforcement agency was dragged into those riots on the count of you. That is the same sewer were our former "commander" crawled from and now you want to bring it here to earn a post retirement check. Tell your fat benefactor to stop offering jobs before getting elected. He is in for a rude surprise at the polls.

[Unregistered]

Guess you never read the file
Your 1 was in the mix too

Read up

[Unregistered]

Just cuz 1 and his bro weren't prosecuted does not mean he's not dirty. He was in the mix

[Unregistered]

Read up on your former commander and current bodyguard Orlando. Trust me that story is far juicier.

[Old Freind]

I have know Orlando Lopez for over 27 years and he's always had a great heart and cares for his City and the people who live there. So who ever you are get a life and move on jealousy kills....

[Unregistered]

It's been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. All great thinkers are rolling in their graves and bent with pain at the lack of intellect and courage displayed in this forum! (and I apologize for those of you whom I should not throw out with the obviously biased and corrupt kitty litter).

This is how a campaign is run in 2015...with conjecture, unmitigated lies and unsubstantiated accusations. All stones and shadows cast herein are from the safety of anonymity. How will you live your life so that it does not make a mockery of your values? Well, obviously, for some in Sweetwater it's by casting the stone before someone finds that same stone and throws it at your own glass house. Really?

Let's be clear that "overweight" guy who "burned his business down" to collect on the insurance didn't actually own the business! Morons! It was a family business which was not even in his name. It was an electrical fire.... fully investigated by the appropriate authorities. Insurance monies? Ignoramuses...it didn't even cover a year's salary for the family making their living there. Never mind the loyal employees that had been with the family working the business for over 20 years. You think that's how he achieved his current financial status? You're even bigger idiots than you realize you are!

That "overweight" schmuck saved every penny he could since he was in high school, started retirement accounts at 18, and worked doggedly at any job that would have him (no job or position was ever beneath him); He worked 2-3 jobs at a time. Always willing to take a business risk; sometimes he lost, a lot of times he won When he did, again he saved the money in those early retirement funds. That "overweight" schmuck bought his jeans at Target when he could have easily shopped at Neiman Marcus. What's your beef with that "overweight" guy? You didn't have the intellect or drive to do the same thing he did from early on?

Why a "schmuck" you may ask...because he thinks he can make a difference...he WANTS to make a difference. Your right that "overweight" guy should not be your leader...you don't deserve him! What's your beef with him? Oh yeah, I forgot he has what you don't have ...morals, integrity and the law on his side.

For the record, I am not his wife and I am not his mother. I am his admirer! I don't need to post my name because you see unlike yourselves, I am not making false accusations to save my job.

That's all folks!

[Unregistered]

Not difficult picking sides in this mayoral election. Just take a look at the candidate supporters. Lopez is supported by the mother of the former mayor who happens to be serving a federal prison term for bribery. She is already making plans to collect absentee ballots from sick and elderly citizens to tilt the election. He is supported by a degenerate former police officer who has been accused of stealing from the property room and associating with every dope dealer in South Florida since the 1970s. He is supported by a two truck company owner who intends to secure the similar contracts that put Marono in prison. AND THESE ARE JUST LOPEZ's COMMISSIONER SUPPORTERS! Go down the list of civilian supporters and it gets more interesting. Pepe Diaz has tried to clean this place up but those listed above have impeded the process. On Election Day do what is right for this city.

Hmmmm...how has Pepe Diaz tried to clean this place up......CI for the FBI? It's called deflection...point the finger at someone else and you'll make sure to keep the attention OFF yourself. That I grant you...he's a semi smart corrupter.