UPDATE: Nov. 28, 2018
Raimundo Atesiano was sentenced to three years in prison for a conspiracy in his department to frame Black people. The former Biscayne Park police chief was allowed him to remain free for two weeks before surrendering to care for his mother, who is dying of leukemia, according to the Miami Herald.
“When I took the job, I was not prepared,” Atesiano told a federal judge. “I made some very, very bad decisions.”
ORIGINAL STORY
As racial disparities continue to plague the criminal justice system, a former police chief in Florida admitted to purposely sending Black men to prison. Former Biscayne Park Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano acknowledged at his plea hearing in Miami federal court that he told his cops in 2013 to frame three Black residents, one of which was a 16-year-old, for a series of unsolved home and vehicle burglaries in order get a 100 percent clearance on the department’s property crimes record.
Raimundo Atesiano
Atesiano’s admission wasn’t out of good will or repentance; it was for less prison time. His change of plea came before his trial date on Sept. 17 in Miami federal court.
If he were found guilty, he could have faced a maximum sentence of 11 years.
Now, prosecutors are only recommending a two-year sentence. They did not consider race as a factor in the case, although the three victims were Black, according to WPLG.
“Atesiano admitted that on one occasion he instructed an officer to falsely arrest and charge an individual for several vehicle burglaries based upon what Atesiano knew were false confessions,” the prosecutors said in a statement.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators and FBI agents discovered that, on three separate occasions, he ordered three of his subordinates at Biscayne Park to basically destroy lives.
According to the Miami New Times, Clarens Desrouleaux is suing the police department after he spent five years in prison for a burglary he did not commit. Desrouleaux was deported to Haiti last year.
State prosecutors vacated his conviction in August after Atesiano and three cops were indicted on federal charges. Desrouleaux’s new lawsuit, filed Friday in Miami federal court, states that Charlie Dayoub and Guillermo Ravelo, intentionally targeted him in 2013 because of his past history of arrests.
Desrouleaux was coerced into admitting to crimes he never committed because the cops threatened him with even more jail time, according to the lawsuit. He pleaded guilty in court to avoid spending the majority of his life in prison.
