‘SLAP ON THE WRIST’

Ex-Florida Cops Get Prison Time for Roles in Framing Black Teen

After testifying against their former chief in a bid to avoid jail.

Two former Florida cops convicted of helping their former chief pin crimes on a black teenager to improve police crime-solving stats were sentenced to one year in jail Tuesday for their role in the scheme, The Miami Herald reports. Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez had expected to avoid jail time by testifying against their former police chief, Raimundo Atesiano, who pleaded guilty last month to pressuring officers in the predominantly white town of Biscayne Park to frame black people for crimes in order to secure a perfect burglary-clearance rate. Both Dayoub and Fernandez had earlier admitted to framing a 16-year-old in four burglaries in 2013 under the direction of Atesiano, but prosecutors had all but promised them a sentence without jail time if they would give evidence against Atesiano. Instead, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced Dayoub and Fernandez to the maximum of one year in prison for false arrests, saying it would be an “insult” to law enforcement to issue a lighter sentence and would send “entirely the wrong message—particularly to the minority community.” Prosecutors had originally recommended eight months of home confinement for Dayoub and one year of probation for Fernandez.