copblock.org
I wish it wasn’t the case that there are so many stories involving police abusing their positions. If we compile enough evidence, eventually there will be no place left for any of them to hide, having broken all the laws themselves we will be forced to change the methods of the police force in this country. I don’t know how long that will take to accomplish but I will keep reporting stories like this every single day until that reform does come about.
-Ethan I. Solomon
-From the New York Post
An NYPD cop was busted last night on charges of breaking into his colleagues’ lockers in their station house and stealing guns that were sold on the street, The Post has learned.
Alleged gun-trafficking officer Nicholas Mina, 31, boosted four 9mm firearms from the seventh-floor locker room at the Ninth Precinct in the East Village, a law-enforcement source said yesterday.
Mina — a six-year veteran who worked midnight patrol tours — was assigned to guard the lockers as part of a 24-hour security detail created by department brass after the embarrassing thefts began in February.
“This is the lowest crime — to steal from your fellow cops. Somebody you work with, you dress with, you change with,” said a retired cop who knows Mina. “To rob a gun that could be used against a fellow cop someday. There’s nothing lower.”
It’s suspected that Mina brazenly sneaked one of the guns out of the tightly watched locker room on April 22, sources said. After that caper, a sergeant was assigned to guard duty and the heists stopped.
Police officials also installed a security camera to monitor the locker-room entrance, and added a second lock to each locker.
Along with the guns, bulletproof vests, cash and an iPad were lifted.
Mina allegedly sold the weapons to buyers unaware that he was a cop.
After the NYPD Firearms Suppression Unit got a tip about illegal gun sales, it joined the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Manhattan DA to launch a probe.
Mina was arrested yesterday, as were his alleged civilian cohorts — identified by sources as Ivan Chavez, 24; Meryl Lebowitz, 64, and Jennifer Sultan, 38. It’s not clear what roles the civilians — who are not NYPD employees — played.
All four were charged with offenses including criminal sale of a firearm.
Last night, IAB investigators descended on the station house and kicked all cops out of the locker room. It had been long suspected the gun thefts were an inside job.
-From Fox News
A New York City police officer addicted to painkillers stole guns out of police lockers at his precinct to pay for his habit, prosecutors said Friday.
Nicholas Mina, 31, his suspected dealer and three accomplices were charged Friday with crimes including conspiracy and selling drugs and guns.
The officer developed the Oxycodone habit and became a “daily customer,” eventually owing his dealer so much money that he turned to stealing guns, and also re-selling drugs he bought, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Christopher Prevost.
Wearing a white, oversized T-shirt with a Fender guitar logo, Mina hung his head low during the court appearance. He was arrested Thursday night and confessed, prosecutors said. Mina was suspended from the force pending the outcome of the charges.
Mina has been with the department for 4 ½ years and worked in the 9th Precinct located in the trendy East Village of Manhattan. His attorney David Fisher said his client split his time living on Long Island with his parents and in Queens with his girlfriend.
“He’s 31 years old. He’s never been in trouble,” he said.
Mina’s suspected dealer, Ivan Chavez, 24, and three others were being held.
According to the indictment, Mina stole four guns, including Glock and Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistols from his colleagues, and also hawked his own gun that was not registered to the New York Police Department. He was also accused of stealing a bullet-resistant vest. The weapons were sold to Chavez or funneled onto the black market through others in the ring, prosecutors said.
They were also accused of selling drugs.
“Guns, drugs, and corruption are a dangerous combination,” said District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. “This defendant endangered the very public he took an oath to protect, at a time when gun violence is destroying lives every day.