Shawn Jenkins Conspired to Burglarize an Apartment Rumored to Contain a Significant Amount of Money Hidden by a Narcotics Trafficker
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of SHAWN JENKINS, 43, in Manhattan Supreme Court to both charges against him, Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree. Jenkins was a New York City police officer who had been assigned to the 23rd Precinct on the East Side of Manhattan as a Highway Safety Officer until he was suspended on May 13, 2009.
“The defendant’s actions represent a serious abuse of the public trust by a law enforcement officer who swore to uphold our laws and protect the public,” said District Attorney Vance. “I would like to thank our partners in law enforcement, including the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and members of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Task Force, for their collaboration on the investigation that led to today’s conviction.”
The crimes for which JENKINS has been convicted occurred between approximately May 2008 and May 2009. According to documents filed in court, JENKINS planned to break into an apartment located at 5008 Broadway in Inwood, to steal $900,000 cash that he believed to be hidden beneath the floorboards of a closet inside the apartment. The money was supposedly hidden by a prior tenant in the apartment, a reported drug dealer, who was deported to the Dominican Republic in August 2007 by the federal government. JENKINS claimed that he had previously worked for the drug dealer as a bodyguard, and that he had been sent a letter from the drug dealer containing a diagram of the apartment indicating where the money was hidden.
JENKINS planned to gain entry into the apartment through the use of a fictitious search warrant or other fictitious means, while he wore a police raid jacket. JENKINS planned to steal the money after immobilizing the then tenant with a Taser gun and securing him with handcuffs.
Over the course of the conspiracy, JENKINS engaged in numerous acts intended to bring his plan to fruition, including: conducting surveillance of the apartment building and its surroundings; attempting to gain entry into the apartment by having a locksmith “work the lock;” providing an informant who he believed to be a co-conspirator with an official NYPD form to be used as a ruse to gain entry into the apartment; buying flashlights to be used to search the apartment; and procuring Taser accessories such as Taser darts and a Taser gun cartridge and battery pack to subdue the tenant of the apartment once he gained entry.
The defendant’s plan was thwarted by a joint effort between members of the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau and members of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. The conspiracy ended on May 13, 2009, when JENKINS was arrested as he drove up to the building in which the apartment was located, but before going inside.
JENKINS is expected to be sentenced on December 6, 2011.
Assistant District Attorney Luke Rettler, Chief of the Official Corruption Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Julio Cuevas, Jr., Deputy Chief of the Official Corruption Unit prosecuted this case under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Adam S. Kaufmann, Chief of the Investigation Division. District Attorney Vance thanked the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the New York OCDETF Strike Force of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration for their work on the investigation.
Defendant Information:
SHAWN JENKINS, D.O.B., 2/17/68
New York, NY
Convicted:
Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree, class D felony, 1 count
Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, class E felony, 1 count
“The defendant’s actions represent a serious abuse of the public trust by a law enforcement officer who swore to uphold our laws and protect the public,” said District Attorney Vance. “I would like to thank our partners in law enforcement, including the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and members of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Task Force, for their collaboration on the investigation that led to today’s conviction.”
The crimes for which JENKINS has been convicted occurred between approximately May 2008 and May 2009. According to documents filed in court, JENKINS planned to break into an apartment located at 5008 Broadway in Inwood, to steal $900,000 cash that he believed to be hidden beneath the floorboards of a closet inside the apartment. The money was supposedly hidden by a prior tenant in the apartment, a reported drug dealer, who was deported to the Dominican Republic in August 2007 by the federal government. JENKINS claimed that he had previously worked for the drug dealer as a bodyguard, and that he had been sent a letter from the drug dealer containing a diagram of the apartment indicating where the money was hidden.
JENKINS planned to gain entry into the apartment through the use of a fictitious search warrant or other fictitious means, while he wore a police raid jacket. JENKINS planned to steal the money after immobilizing the then tenant with a Taser gun and securing him with handcuffs.
Over the course of the conspiracy, JENKINS engaged in numerous acts intended to bring his plan to fruition, including: conducting surveillance of the apartment building and its surroundings; attempting to gain entry into the apartment by having a locksmith “work the lock;” providing an informant who he believed to be a co-conspirator with an official NYPD form to be used as a ruse to gain entry into the apartment; buying flashlights to be used to search the apartment; and procuring Taser accessories such as Taser darts and a Taser gun cartridge and battery pack to subdue the tenant of the apartment once he gained entry.
The defendant’s plan was thwarted by a joint effort between members of the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau and members of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. The conspiracy ended on May 13, 2009, when JENKINS was arrested as he drove up to the building in which the apartment was located, but before going inside.
JENKINS is expected to be sentenced on December 6, 2011.
Assistant District Attorney Luke Rettler, Chief of the Official Corruption Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Julio Cuevas, Jr., Deputy Chief of the Official Corruption Unit prosecuted this case under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Adam S. Kaufmann, Chief of the Investigation Division. District Attorney Vance thanked the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the New York OCDETF Strike Force of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration for their work on the investigation.
Defendant Information:
SHAWN JENKINS, D.O.B., 2/17/68
New York, NY
Convicted:
Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree, class D felony, 1 count
Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, class E felony, 1 count
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