Puerto Rican police officer jailed for 30 years
NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — The Jamaican-American United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, says William Vazquez-Baez, a former member of the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD), has been sentenced by US District Judge Jesse M Furman to 30 years in prison.
Williams said Vazquez-Baez, 53, previously plead guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy and one count of participating in a conspiracy to commit murder for hire in connection with his agreement to assist a drug-trafficking organisation that shipped drugs to New York and distributed them from a Bronx daycare centre.
“William Vazquez Baez abused his position as a police officer to help a vicious drug organisation distribute massive amounts of cocaine and massacre citizens he had sworn to protect,” said Williams on Thursday. “Today, Vazquez-Baez was rightly sentenced to 30 years in prison for his horrific crimes.”
According to the indictment, other filings in this case, and statements during court proceedings from about 1994 until his arrest in connection with this case in May 2017, Vazquez-Baez was an active police officer with the PRPD.
From in or about 2004 until in or about 2016, members of La ONU distributed thousands of kilogrammes of cocaine, including cocaine that was shipped from Puerto Rico to New York and then distributed out of a Bronx daycare centre, and protected their territory and trade through numerous acts of violence.
The indictment said members of La ONU “paid Vazquez-Baez a salary to corruptly use his position as a police officer to further the interests of La ONU”.
For example, the indictment said Vazquez-Baez provided narcotics and intelligence, including information obtained from the police narcotics unit.
Members of La ONU would also contact Vazquez-Baez, among others, when transporting large quantities of cocaine within the San Juan, Puerto Rico area “to ensure the shipment avoided areas of police activity,” according to the indictment.
It said Vazquez-Baez also distributed payments to other corrupt police officers who assisted La ONU, and that he assisted La ONU in acts of violence.
