1 Miami-Dade cop
indicted in corruption case
A Miami-Dade police
officer and six Miami Beach code and fire inspectors accused of shaking down a
South Beach nightclub owner have been indicted by a federal grand jury.
A federal grand jury has indicted six Miami Beach code and fire inspectors accused of shaking down a South Beach nightclub owner, and a Miami-Dade police officer charged with providing protection for fake cocaine runs from the club to Aventura.
Miami Beach’s lead
code compliance administrator, Jose Alberto, and code officers Willie Grant,
Orlando Gonzalez and Ramon Vasallo are charged with one count each of
conspiracy to commit extortion. Fire inspectors Henry Bryant and Chai Footman
face the same charge.
In addition, all six
are charged with at least one count of attempted extortion, based on the number
of times federal agents say the men took cash bribes — or in one case, a comped
bill — from the owner of the nightclub, which is unnamed in the indictment.
The indictment was
expected following the men’s April 11 arrest by local and federal authorities,
who filed criminal complaints detailing a six-month nightclub extortion sting.
In the complaints, the
FBI said the club’s owner was forced to pay bribes to ensure that the
inspectors would allow his club to remain open and turn a blind eye to
violations, such as promotional fliers littering the street and roughly $25,000
in outstanding resort taxes the club owed to the city of Miami Beach.
The owner reported the
shakedowns to the FBI and agreed to work as a paid informant in an undercover
operation targeting the employees.
According to the
indictment, the owner and an undercover FBI agent posing as a club manager paid
bribes on 34 occasions to the code and fire inspectors.
Federal agents say
Alberto, the lead code compliance administrator, initiated the extortion scheme
in June and took $16,600 in bribes on 22 occasions. If convicted, each
extortion count carries a maximum 20-year sentence.
The grand jury also
charged Bryant and Miami-Dade officer Daniel Mack, who are together accused of
receiving $25,000 in payments to transport “sham” cocaine for undercover FBI
agents, with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
cocaine and two charges of attempting to possess with intent to distribute
cocaine.
If the men are
convicted, each count carries a maximum life sentence.
Alberto, Footman,
Grant, Gonzalez and Vasallo all pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Bryant and Mack
are expected to enter pleas Thursday.
An eighth man
arrested, Miami Beach code officer Vicente Santiesteban, who according to court
documents accepted a $400 bribe from an undercover agent, also pleaded not
guilty Wednesday.
Santiesteban, however,
has agreed to a plea deal and will admit to one count of conspiracy to commit
extortion, according to his attorney, Richard Sharpstein.
Sharpstein said
Santiesteban “made the decision to confront the situation early. He was
minimally involved and totally unaware of the overall situation. He made an
error in judgment in a brief moment in time and he’ll pay the price.”
All those arrested have
been suspended without pay. Miami Beach has filed paperwork to fire its accused
employees.