Pubdate: Tue, 04 Nov 2014
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

OFFICERS FACE NEW CORRUPTION CHARGES

After securing a guilty plea and an agreement to cooperate from one 
San Francisco police officer, federal prosecutors have added theft 
and corruption charges against two veteran officers accused of taking 
money and drugs from suspects.

The timing of the new federal grand jury indictment against Sgt. Ian 
Furminger and Officer Edmond Robles suggests the additional charges 
resulted from statements by former Officer Reynaldo Vargas. Vargas 
was charged in the original indictment in February, along with 
Furminger and Robles, but pleaded guilty to four felonies on Oct. 21 
and agreed to testify against his former colleagues.

The new charges, issued Thursday, include two counts of depriving the 
public of the officers' "honest and faithful services through 
bribery, kickbacks, and the concealment of material information." The 
indictment also accuses them of stealing money during four police 
searches in 2009 in Newark and San Francisco.

Furminger and Robles pleaded not guilty Friday and remain free on 
bail. Their jury was selected Monday, and their trial is scheduled to 
start next Monday.

All three officers were assigned to the Mission District Station. The 
criminal charges followed an investigation by San Francisco police 
and the FBI that concluded the officers had stolen marijuana that had 
been seized from criminal suspects in 2009, and that Vargas had 
delivered the drugs to a pair of informants, who sold it in return 
for 25 percent of the proceeds.

In 2011, Public Defender Jeff Adachi disclosed surveillance videos 
from a single-roomoccupancy hotel showing narcotics officers, 
including Vargas, taking property that was never accounted for.

Vargas was a police officer from 1999 until he was fired in 2012. In 
his plea agreement, he admitted stealing computers, gift cards, money 
and other property, worth more than $5,000 overall, and keeping them 
for personal use. He also said he, Furminger and Robles had taken 
marijuana from a seized UPS parcel in 2009, and that he later gave 
the drugs to two people whom the three officers had been trying to 
recruit as informants.

The new indictment expands on a previous charge of conspiring to 
steal property that should have been booked into evidence. The 
original indictment alleged a March 2009 theft during an apartment 
search that included a $500 Apple gift card. Thursday's indictment 
alleges additional monetary thefts by Furminger, Robles and Vargas 
during searches in Newark in May 2009 and in San Francisco in October 
and November 2009, and by Robles and Vargas in San Francisco in June 2009.

Another new allegation is that Furminger and Robles accepted items of 
value from a person they knew was in the business of selling stolen 
property, while agreeing to shield that person from prosecution. 
Furminger was already charged with extorting property from that 
suspect, and the new indictment repeats that charge.
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