An ex-cop was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for robbing drug dealers with a gang—whom he outfitted in NYPD gear—on the side. Though Emmanuel Tavarez tried to "portray himself as a victim who had been forced into participating in the robberies," the judge on the case was having none of it, telling Tavarez his claim was "arrogant and insulting to this court. You acted out of greed and not duress."
Tavarez, an eight-year veteran of the force, was arrested last May and accused of helping a robbery crew (which included a number of his in-laws) to pose as police officers in order to better bust other dealers, with fake arrest and search warrants and everything. The scheme worked out great at first. In less than a decade the crew reportedly ran more than 100 armed robberies that netted them more than 250 kilos of coke and $1 million in drug proceeds. But then, in 2008, a sting operation in Queens turned up real and fake NYPD paraphernalia, including Miranda warning cards and a vehicle modified to look like a cop car, and the cops got suspicious. That discovery led police to Taverez, who was put on modified assignment in August 2009 until he was arrested last year.
In hearings leading up to Taverez's sentencing the ex-cop, who was facing life behind bars, tried to persuade the court that his brother-in-law, Eloys Fernandez, had threatened to kill him or his sister if Tavarez said anything about the robberies. But Fernandez, a cooperating witness, denied that story as did another cooperating member of the crew who called Tavarez "thirsty for money."
Wonder what happens to crooked cops who rob drug dealers when they go to the big house?
