FBI Arrests Former Hialeah Police Officer On Corruptions Charges

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HIALEAH (CBSMiami) – The FBI has arrested a former Hialeah police officer on corruptions charges.

Officer Raul Castellon, who was fired from the department twice, made his first appearance in federal court on Monday.

Castellon is under indictment on corruptions charges as well as identify theft fraud.

He's not alone, as Neilin Gonzalez Diaz is named in the indictment too.

Investigators allege Officer Castellon would enter names into the "Driver and Vehicle Information Data Base" run by the state, known as "David."

That's a confidential system that gives access to people's driver's license numbers, social security numbers and dates of birth.

Detectives said Castellon would give that information to Gonzalez in exchange for gifts.

At the Hialeah Police Department, the chief described Castellon as "problematic employee" from the start.

His personnel file shows 13 reprimands since his hire in 2006.

He was suspended four times and was involved in five traffic crashes.

The department report goes on to say he was the subject of five internal affairs investigations and cleared of four.

He was fired in October of 2012 for disobeying the rules about use of his police cruiser, but then rehired in April of 2014 through labor arbitration, which the chief called unfortunate.

"The public looks at that and say, 'How come this guy gets back to work?'" CBS4's Hank Tester asked PBA President John Rivera.

"Well again, you need to ask yourself more the question why the investigation was so flawed that he was able to get away with it," Rivera said. "And at the end of the day, it was about speeding. It wasn't like this was a big case."

In October of 2016, Castellon was placed on leave from the department because of this latest investigation.