Ex-police chief pleads guilty to ordering false arrests

MIAMI – A former police chief of a small Florida community has pleaded guilty to ordering several officers to make false arrests.

A U.S. attorney’s office news release says Raimundo Atesiano pleaded guilty Friday in Miami federal court to conspiring with Biscayne Park police officers to violate individuals’ civil rights. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his scheduled sentencing Nov. 27.

Prosecutors say Atesiano instructed three officers, who have previously pleaded guilty to false arrest charges, to apprehend and charge individuals without legal basis to maintain a fictitious 100 per cent clearance rate of reported burglaries.

Authorities say officers charged an unnamed 16-year-old in June 2013 in four unsolved burglaries, although the former chief and officers knew there was no evidence to support the charges.