BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Catherine
C. Blake sentenced Baltimore Police officer Samuel Ocasio, age 37, of Edgewood,
Maryland, today to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised
release for conspiring to commit and committing extortion under color of
official right in connection with a scheme in which brothers Hernan Moreno and
Edwin Mejia paid Ocasio and over 50 other officers to arrange for their car
repair company, Majestic, rather than a city-authorized company, to tow
vehicles from accident scenes and make repairs. Judge Blake also ordered Ocasio
to pay restitution of $1,500 to the Baltimore Police Department.
The sentence was announced by United
States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent
in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III.
According to testimony during the six
day trial, beginning in the spring 2008, Moreno and Mejia agreed with Ocasio
that while acting in his capacity as a Baltimore Police Department (BPD)
officer at accident scenes, Ocasio would contact Moreno and Mejia for towing
and repair services for vehicles even though Majestic was not an authorized tow
company for the city of Baltimore. In exchange, Mejia or Moreno would pay
Ocasio $300 for each vehicle that arrived at Majestic.
Specifically, while on the scene of an
accident, Ocasio would contact Moreno and provide him with the details of the
accident. Ocasio would persuade accident victims to allow their cars to be
towed or otherwise delivered to Majestic by telling the victims that Majestic
could tow the car, provide repair services, help with the insurance claim,
assist in getting a rental car, and waive the owner’s deductible. In some
cases, the accident victims’ cars were towed even if the vehicle was not
actually disabled. Later, Ocasio arranged to meet Moreno or Mejia to receive
cash for steering the car owner to Majestic.
From January 2010 to January 2011,
Moreno paid Ocasio $1,500 in cash for referring five cars to Majestic.
In addition, in January 2010 Ocasio’s
wife was involved in a car accident. Ocasio brought the car to Majestic for
repair and additional damage was made to the car before Ocasio’s car insurance
company estimated the amount of damages. The insurance company paid $2,515.07
to repair the car. Moreno paid Ocasio’s deductible and $300 for bringing his
car to Majestic.
Hernan Alexis Moreno, age 32, of
Rosedale, and Edwin Javier Mejia, age 28, of Middle River, previously pleaded
guilty to the extortion conspiracy and are scheduled to be sentenced on
September 5, 2012. Fourteen police officers have pleaded guilty to the
extortion conspiracy in federal court and one officer pleaded guilty in state
court.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein
praised the FBI and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the
investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Tonya
N. Kelly and Kathleen O. Gavin, who prosecuted the case.
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