Florida Ex-Police Chief Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison For Framing Suspects

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — Ex-Biscayne Park Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for a conspiracy in his department to frame black people for crimes they did not commit.

Raimundo Atesiano appeared in Miami federal court for conspiracy to deprive individuals of their civil rights. The judge allowed him to remain free for two weeks before surrendering so he can care for his mother, who is dying of leukemia, according to CBS News partner The Miami Herald.

Three other former officers already pleaded guilty in the case, which centered around efforts by Atesiano to improve his department's crime-solving rate.

Prosecutors say Atesiano instructed those three officers, to apprehend and charge individuals without legal basis to maintain a fictitious 100 percent clearance rate of reported burglaries.

Atesiano's lawyer says the victims were not randomly selected but were known to police as having criminal pasts.

Prosecutors say the crimes for which black people were falsely arrested included burglaries and vehicle break-ins.

Two ex-officers were sentenced to a year each in prison, while the third got just over two years behind bars.

Atesiano resigned from the Biscayne Park force in 2014 and previously worked as an officer for Sunny Isles Beach, Hialeah and Miami-Dade County Corrections.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)