FORMER NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS

Emmanuel Tavarez, a former member of the New York City Police Department, was sentenced today to 25 years of imprisonment by United States District Judge Sandra L. Townes at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. On April 25, 2012, Tavarez pleaded guilty to robbery conspiracy, cocaine and heroin trafficking conspiracy, and firearm charges.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Tavarez was a member of a violent robbery crew responsible for more than 100 robberies of narcotics traffickers in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere that netted more than 250 kilograms of cocaine and $1 million in drug proceeds. Beginning in approximately January 2001, crew members posed as law enforcement officers, staged fake arrests of the traffickers and then forcibly seized the traffickers’ contraband. Members of the crew restrained victims with handcuffs, rope or duct tape and often brandished firearms and physically assaulted victims. Crew members sold the stolen drugs and divided the proceeds amongst themselves. Tavarez participated in at least eight separate robberies and attempted robberies while employed as an NYPD police officer. During these robberies and attempted robberies, Tavarez acted as a lookout and, on at least one occasion, entered a private residence with other members of the robbery crew where he brandished a firearm.

Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York City Police Department – the agencies responsible for leading the government’s investigation – and thanked the New York State Police, the Bridgeport Police Department, and the Philadelphia Police Department for their assistance.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen J. Meyer, Sylvia S. Shweder and Alexander A. Solomon.

The Defendant:



Name: EMMANUEL TAVAREZ
Age: 33

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