2008/09/01

Miami-Dade police officer Michael Anthony King, 42, was charged by the state with illegal gambling and charged by the feds for aiding and abetting the distribution of powder and crack cocaine. King is a 19-year veteran officer.Police also arrested 27-year veteran Antonio L. Roberts.In a two-year joint federal and state investigation, police collected hard evidence against the accused. Police said in the end they were able to arrest 36 individuals from two separate gangs, a cocaine distribution ring and a gambling ring, including police officers and former county corrections officer Marvin “Cone Head” Coney.Prosecutors presented a still photograph from a police tape of what they say shows evidence of King paying off gambling winnings.“You can see the car…you can see him,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. ”And there’s a payoff from vehicle to vehicle. “Coney’s father James Coney said Roberts and his son are friends and grew up together.U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta said the officers involved in the cocaine distribution ring used their positions as police officers to assist Coney and others in avoiding arrest and successfully conducting a lucrative narcotics trafficking business throughout the Liberty City area.“During that call, officer King actually held up the phone to the police radio so defendant Coney could hear the dispatch calls related to the tactical narcotics team operation,” Acosta saidInvestigators are shocked by the officer’s arrest.“Veterans of such experience basically turned on their own colleagues and risked the lives of fellow police officers,” Acosta said.The feds also arrested Ricardo Munoz, who they said is the head of the drug gang.If convicted, those arrested could face sentences ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

van