Three men, including a former Puerto Rico police sergeant, have pleaded guilty to participating in a brazen robbery in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in July 2012. Jorge Fernandez-Aviles, 49, a former sergeant with the Puerto Rico Police (POPR), pleaded guilty to robbery and firearms charges for his role in the heist.
David Figueroa, 32, a civilian, pleaded guilty to robbery and civil rights charges for his involvement in the robbery, while Alexander Mir-Hernandez, 40, a current POPR officer, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his role in the July 2012 robbery and to a civil rights crime for an unrelated December 2013 robbery.
According to court documents, on July 14, 2012, Fernandez-Aviles and two other POPR officers, Pedro Lopez-Torres, 35, and Luis Ramos-Figueroa, 38, went to the airport, where they picked up a marked patrol car from Officer Mir. They then drove the patrol car to meet up with a fourth individual, Fernando Reyes-Rojas, before heading to the location of the robbery.
Upon entering the house, the officers identified themselves as police, falsely claimed they were executing a search warrant, and ordered several individuals in the garage to the ground and searched for weapons.
While Figueroa watched the occupants, Fernandez-Aviles, Lopez-Torres, Ramos-Figueroa, and Reyes-Rojas searched the property, and Reyes-Rojas found cocaine in a shed in the backyard. A few days later, Reyes-Rojas met with Lopez-Torres and gave him money from the proceeds of the sale of the cocaine he took on the day of the robbery.
Sentencing for all three is scheduled for January 9, 2015.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Division and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Heidi Boutros Gesch of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mariana Bauza of the District of Puerto Rico.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Violent Crime|Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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