SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the indictment of 10 Puerto Rico police officers for allegedly running a criminal organization from a police department.
The officers used their status as law enforcement to "make money through robbery, extortion, manipulating court records and selling illegal narcotics," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury in Puerto Rico on Thursday. The defendants are charged with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act and some of the defendants are charged with extortion under color of official right, narcotics trafficking, civil rights violations and false statements made to federal agents.
Examples of criminal activity allege some of the defendants released a federal fugitive from custody in exchange for weapons and other defendants allegedly stole and later sold 500 grams of cocaine during a police raid. Some are also accused of planting evidence to make false arrests in efforts to extort firearms and narcotics from individuals.
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U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico made the announcement.
"The criminal action today dismantles a network of officers who, we allege, used their badges and their guns not to uphold the law, but to break it," Rodríguez-Vélez said in a statement. "The indictment portrays a classic criminal shakedown; but the people wielding the guns and stealing the drugs here weren't mob goodfellas or mafia soldiers -- these were police officers violating their oaths to enforce the law, making a mockery of the police's sacred responsibility to protect the public."
The defendants are:
Shylene López-García, alias: "Plinia." Ángel Hernández-Nieves, alias: "Doble." Xavier Jiménez-Martínez, alias: "Negro." Alvin Montes-Cintrón, alias: "Vinillo." Ramón Muñiz-Robledo, alias: "Marmota." Guillermo Santos-Castro, alias: "Caco Biftec." Luis Flores-Ortiz, alias: "Piquito." José Neris-Serrano. Manuel Grego-López. David Centeno-Faría, alias: "David Bisbal."
"Corruption is at the root of all evil," Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI's San Juan Division said in a statement. "These police officers violated the trust of the people of Puerto Rico and not only dishonored the police department, but also their fellow, honest, and hardworking officers. The FBI, along with the United States Attorney's Office, will continue to attack corruption at all levels."
