NYPD Officer Robbed Drug Dealers To Pay Bills
It was like something out of a movie. Or maybe movies get their material from real life situations like these.
Former NYPD police officer Jorge Arbaje-Diaz has was sentenced to 20 years in prison for robbing drug dealers and using the proceeds to foot his mortgage, according to reports by the New York Daily News.
Diaz was fired from the force in May 2010 after pleading guilty to using gang members to pose as cops and help shake down drug dealers, relieving them of their cash and valuables. The trial revealed that Diaz participated in several robberies, including one while in uniform and on duty, and another in where a child was present and held a gunpoint.
The former transit officer’s excuse was that he needed the money to pay his mortgage. Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis wasn’t trying to hear it.
“The idea that he was motivated by a variable-rate mortgage puts us in the world of the absurd,” Garaufis said in court.
“Mr. Arbaje-Diaz, you are the poster boy for a sentence that will deter others from doing the acts you engaged in,” he added before handing down the sentence.
Diaz told the courtroom, “I got carried away by the reckless character of youth.”
