Miami Herald Focuses on Velasquez-Today's Story

[Archangel]

(Excerpt's due to lengthy story)

Velázquez, 56, never seemed destined for a role as chief.

After joining Hialeah’s police force in the early 1990s, he committed a string of major disciplinary infractions, according to internal affairs documents obtained by the Miami Herald. Those violations might have normally derailed an ambitious officer’s quest to become top cop.

In one instance, Velázquez’s conduct was found so egregious that he became the subject of a criminal investigation by state prosecutors, leading Hialeah’s police chief at the time to recommend that he be fired.

The incident happened in 2002 when Velázquez, then a sergeant, approached a woman who was being detained at a Hialeah police station for driving under the influence. She had been arrested by an officer under his supervision. Velázquez, on duty at the time, asked for her telephone number. He then began a romantic relationship with the woman, finding her an attorney, paying $1,000 in legal fees, visiting a Santeria reader with her to consult about her case and attending her arraignment in civilian clothes — essentially fighting an arrest made by his own department.

When paperwork from her arrest disappeared from the station, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation into the future chief. But prosecutors could not determine that Velázquez or anyone else had tampered with evidence.

Still, an internal affairs investigation concluded Velázquez behaved improperly. The investigation led the department’s then-chief, Rolando Bolaños, to recommend he should be fired. Only the intervention of the mayor, who instead handed Velázquez a 30-day suspension without pay, kept him on the force.

It wasn’t the first or only time political pull and good fortune would save Velázquez’s career.

Now, former Hialeah mayor Raúl Martínez, who led the city between 1981 and 2005, says not firing Velázquez is one of his greatest regrets.

“I never, ever thought for a second that he would one day become the chief,” Martínez told the Herald in a recent interview. “If he were to leave Hialeah and apply for the police chief’s job in Palatka, I would say that guy is a delinquent.”

Martínez said he suspended Velázquez without pay because he didn’t want to fight the police union. “Your conduct in this case is entirely unacceptable,” Martínez told Velázquez in a May 2004 memo. “Further infractions of this nature will result in termination.”

Just a year later, Velázquez, by then a probationary lieutenant, got into serious trouble again after he was suspected of trumping up battery and cocaine charges in a domestic dispute as an off-duty favor to a family friend, records show. But instead of firing Velázquez, Martínez bumped him back down to sergeant, at the chief’s recommendation.

The demotion didn’t hold back his career for long.

Velázquez had a knack for making rank. He rose up through the department under Martínez’s successor, Julio Robaina, who approved his promotion back to lieutenant in 2007. (Robaina said the internal affairs investigation into the domestic dispute had been flawed.)

And the future chief made an important friend and ally during his time in the ranks: Carlos Hernández, a police commander and city councilman who became Hialeah’s mayor in 2011. Velázquez served with Hernández as a patrol officer and helped him on his political campaigns. In 2012, Hernández appointed his old buddy as chief. Velázquez had previously been the deputy chief.

Neither Velázquez nor Hernández responded to interview requests for this story.

And Hernández, the current mayor who made Velázquez chief? The Miami-Dade ethics commission found he lied twice about high-interest loans he gave to the same Ponzi schemer. Hernández showed his contempt for the judgment by trying to pay a $4,000 county fine with 28 buckets full of pennies.

Bolaños and Robaina did not wish to comment.

Kenneth Harms, a former Miami chief of police, said Velázquez’s blemished record revealed a “lack of integrity and willingness to violate the law” — qualities that he said made Velázquez ill-suited to run any police department, let alone one of Hialeah’s size.

“He should have been terminated a long time ago instead of promoted,” Harms said. “Why is the mayor still protecting him?”

efore joining the force in Hialeah in 1992, Velázquez worked for the New York City Police Department and Bay Harbor Islands Police Department. By 2007, when he filed for personal bankruptcy, he was making more than $80,000 per year. He was still deep in the hole thanks to mortgage payments, car loans and credit card debt.

His fortunes turned after Hernández made him chief in 2012. Velázquez now makes $182,802, up from $119,596 when he started in that role, according to Hialeah city budgets. That’s a bump of 52 percent. Budgeted salaries for police officers and trainees grew 4 percent over that same time.

Dating a suspect arrested by his officers wasn’t the only questionable decision Velázquez made before becoming chief, his internal affairs file shows.

During a 2005 incident, internal affairs investigators found that Velázquez, then a lieutenant, had improperly intervened during a fight involving family friends and ordered an unlawful arrest — and then lied about his conduct and refused to provide evidence to investigators.

On May 16, 2005, officers Jorge Castillo and Luis Garrido responded to a disturbance call at a home in Hialeah. A fight had broken out between a man named Francisco Lopez and his stepdaughter’s boyfriend, Jose Acosta. Lopez would later say that Acosta had pulled a machete out of his car and waved it at him.

After the officers responded, Lopez called Velázquez, who was off duty at the time and arrived at the house in plain clothes. Velázquez often visited and ate meals at the house. Lopez claimed that a small bag of cocaine had fallen out of Acosta’s pocket while they fought, although there were no witnesses to the alleged incident. Lopez did not mention anything about the drugs until 20 minutes after the two officers arrived. He said he found the baggie on the ground while walking with Velázquez.

Velázquez ordered the officers to arrest Acosta on battery and cocaine possession charges, according to an internal affairs report. Within an hour, he had changed his mind, releasing Acosta at the urging of Lopez’s stepdaughter, Cathy Bacallao, who was dating Acosta, according to the IA report.

One of the officers reported his concerns over what he called an “inappropriate” arrest to superiors. But Velázquez claimed the officers were lying about being ordered to arrest Acosta and that they had acted on their own authority. He said he had responded to the scene as “Sergio, a civilian,” not as a police lieutenant.

But an internal affairs detective found that Velázquez had “involved himself in a scene of a criminal investigation while off duty, having a personal interest in the outcome of the investigation, which involved personal friends.” The detective also noted that Velázquez refused to provide his cellphone and SunPass toll records and had “thus interfered with an internal affairs investigation.”

Finally, the investigation revealed that a police report documenting the impounding of the cocaine had vanished — not the first time that had happened in a case involving Velázquez. “It is a fact there have been other reports which have become missing in status .... when Lieutenant Velázquez has been the subject officer under investigation,” the IA probe noted.

[Unregistered]

both carlos and sergios are pieces of crap. Sergio gives himself a hefty raise woww

[Unregistered]

Carlos gave 100 a raise. You are all punks. He’s staying, Carlos stays and the stealing on the 3rd and 2nd floor continues. Wake up. And where is our union out there demanding his removal. FOP SUCKS, STAFF STEALS, STAFF ARE WIMPS, AMD WE GET DISCIPLINED

[Unregistered]

“THE TRUTH WILL COME TO LIGHT” and “THE TRUTH WILL OUT”

[Unregistered]

He covered up for a serial rapist with a badge

[Unregistered]

We are an embarrassment to law enforcement.

[Unregistered]

We are an embarrassment to law enforcement.

"They" bring shame and embarrassment to law enforcement and the department. "You" and a majority kept your compass straight. Smart and fair people understand this.

[Unregistered]

Neither Velazquez nor Hernandez has said anything remotely critical of Menocal's actions.

Neither Velazquez nor Hernandez has expressed any sympathy to Menocal's victims.

It's a fact that Velazquez overruled IA's conclusion that Menocal had improper sex with a minor and put him back on the street and gave him a pay raise. Velazquez was Menocal's enabler, the child victims were just the price of the payola business. If Hernandez had the slightest bit of integrity he would have suspended Velasquez.

Instead, Hernandez and Velasquez are going to milk the clock for every corrupt dollar they can collect until the feds intervene.

What a freaking mess.

[Unregistered]

Trust me, he's not sleeping well at night....
Never knowing when the FBI boyz are coming to get him!

Karma!

[Unregistered]

"They" bring shame and embarrassment to law enforcement and the department. "You" and a majority kept your compass straight. Smart and fair people understand this.

Unfortunately,As you know we are all labeled the same. By just wearing a hialeah police patch people already think we are corrupted as a department.