Cops indicted in buy-and-bust fraud

A Queens County grand jury has indicted two New York City police officers on multiple charges, including conspiracy, unlawful imprisonment and official misconduct. The charges stem from a joint investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the Queens County District Attorney’s Integrity Bureau into an undercover buy-and-bust operation conducted at an Elmhurst bar last year in which four men are alleged to have been falsely accused of selling cocaine to the police officers. One of the officers is presently on modified assignment and the other has since left the NYPD.
The district attorney identified the defendants as Henry Tavarez, 27, of New York City, and Stephen Anderson, 33, of Long Island. The defendants are presently awaiting arraignment on a 42-count indictment. If convicted, they face up to nine years in state prison.
According to the charges, Detective Anderson and Police Officer Tavarez were part of a team of NYPD narcotics officers conducting a buy-and-bust operation at Club Delicioso, a bar located at 43-24 91st Place in Elmhurst, that began on the night of January 4, 2008, and concluded during the early morning hours of the following day. As a result of their activity, six individuals were arrested for their alleged involvement in two separate drug sales.
In the first alleged drug sale, according to the charges outlined in the indictment, Anderson claimed in conversations with his immediate supervisor and in forms filed with the NYPD, the district attorney’s Office and the Criminal Court that he had purchased one ziplock bag of cocaine from Gabriel Lira and Julian Martinez for $40 when, in fact, he had paid $60 for three bags. In the second alleged drug sale, Tavarez similarly is alleged to have claimed in conversations and documents that he bought two ziplock bags of cocaine for $100 from Jose Colon and his brother, Maximo Colon, Raul Duchimasa and Luis Rodriguez when, in fact, he never bought drugs from them and the two bags of cocaine vouchered into evidence were allegedly the ones Anderson had purchased from Lira and Martinez.
It is further alleged that based on the word of Anderson and Tavarez, the six men were arrested and charged with third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, punishable by up to nine years in prison. Five of the men were released on their own recognizance and one, Maximo Colon, was held on $2,500 bail until it was posted three days later.
Following their arrest, it is further alleged, Jose Colon went back to Club Delicioso and made a copy of a security video which confirmed that the NYPD narcotics officers did not have any interaction with the Colon brothers, Duchimasa or Rodriguez.
Brown said that the criminal charges against the four men were ultimately dismissed in June 2008. Lira and Martinez have since pleaded guilty as charged to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and are awaiting sentencing.
Anderson is charged with one count of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, 20 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, eight counts of first-degree falsifying business records, two counts of official misconduct, two counts of making an apparently false sworn statement, four counts of second-degree unlawful imprisonment, one count each of fourth- and fifth-degree conspiracy, one count of first-degree attempted perjury, one count of fourth-degree tampering with a witness and one count of petit larceny.
Tavarez is charged with one count of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, 10 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, four counts of first-degree falsifying business records, one count of official misconduct, one count of making an apparently false sworn statement, four counts of second-degree unlawful imprisonment, one count each of fourth- and fifth-degree conspiracy and one count of petit larceny.