FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has scheduled a news conference for 11:00 a.m. following the surrender and arrest of two of its police officers.
Detectives Brian Dodge and Billy Koepke are charged with multiple counts including racketeering, kidnapping, extortion, perjury, grand theft, making threats, and false arrest. Both men turned themselves in at the Broward Main Jail Thursday night and appeared in bond court Friday morning.
Bond was set for both men. The two officers are eligible for pre-trial release and will be under house arrest with GPS monitors once they make bond, according to the Sun Sentinel. The judge also ordered both men to give up their passports and have no contact with each other or potential witnesses in the case.
Dodge and Koepke, both members of a Street Crimes Unit formerly known as the Raiders, have been under investigation for months for allegedly robbing drug dealers of cash and contraband and kidnapping them at gunpoint to participate in drug operations, according to the South Florida Times.
Both officers have been on paid suspension from their jobs since April 18, police officials said.
The detectives came under scrutiny over a suspicious drug arrest at a Red Roof Inn, located at 4800 N. Powerline Road in Oakland Park. The men made two arrests at the motel but hotel security video contradicts their version of the arrests, states the Sentinel.
 |
| Michael Florenco |
A police corruption task force, made up of Fort Lauderdale officers and FBI agents, turned up evidence that Koepke and Dodge claimed they found crack cocaine on a man who had none and stole several thousand dollars that should have been turned over as evidence, sources said.
 |
| Matthew Moceri |
Two other officers, Matthew Moceri and Michael Florenco, have been suspended in the same investigation but have not been criminally charged.
No comments:
Post a Comment