2 Florida cops issued tickets for drivers who were never pulled over, authorities say
Two Florida police officers were busted this week after authorities accused them of writing dozens of bogus traffic tickets, including some that went to drivers who were never pulled over.
In some cases, the two motorcycle cops used fake names combined with actual information from vehicles they chose to target during the scheme, which happened last year in Hialeah, just north of Miami, officials said Wednesday.
Suspects Armando Perez and Ernesto Arias-Martinez were arrested Wednesday and charged with multiple counts of official misconduct, a third-degree felony, and falsifying public records, a first-degree misdemeanor.
The alleged plot was uncovered after a driver learned he had “officially” received 18 citations on Feb. 13, 2020, and six others the following day. The man recalled being stopped by a pair of Hialeah motorcycle cops who told him he would receive a ticket in the mail, but it never happened, according to prosecutors in Miami-Dade County.
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The victim only learned he had been cited when he received mail solicitations for a lawyer offering to represent him in court, authorities said. The man contacted the attorney and then the police.
The city’s police department conducted an audit of the officers’ activities from January to June 2020 and found eight additional drivers facing a similar situation.
“When police officers create false traffic tickets, as we are alleging happened here, they damage the reputation of their own department and the reputations of every police officer working to serve our Miami-Dade community,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.
“In the case of Hialeah Officers Perez and Arias-Martinez, we are alleging that their actions were not errors or mistakes, but crimes,” she said. “The Hialeah Police Department deserves credit for working diligently to uncover and correct the actions of these two officers.”
Perez, 40, has been with the department for five years and Arias-Martinez, 23, joined the force about three years ago, according to a news release. Both officers will be fired from the department, local media reported Wednesday.
