South Florida Detective Arrested for Alleged Grand Theft

Our Broward County criminal defense attorneys have learned that a Broward County detective was suspended without pay following his arrest on a charge of grand theft. He allegedly took $1,220 seized during a drug bust at a Pompano Beach apartment.

The sheriff’s complaint affidavit states that deputies arrived at the apartment last December after receiving a call from a property manager who’d discovered marijuana plants at the apartment. Deputies found over $2,000 in the pants pocket of one of the tenants when he arrived home. The detective told deputies to leave the money inside the apartment. They counted the money three times while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive.

Later, the detective reportedly refused help from other deputies as he stayed alone in the apartment for unspecific length of time. When the detective and the sergeant later counted the money, they found that over a thousand dollars was missing. According to a sheriff’s investigation, the detective was the only person with access to the money and the opportunity to steal it.

Though the tenants of the apartment were charged with child neglect and one tenant was charged with marijuana possession and drug trafficking, those charges were dropped earlier this year.

Source: Broward sheriff’s detective suspended after his grand theft arrest, South Florida Sun Sentinel, October 27, 2010
Contact the Miami-Dade criminal defense lawyers at Leifert & Leifert if you have been charged with a crime such as drug trafficking or theft.