Three San Juan police officers charged with theft from the force, supermarkets and colleagues
Within days, two officers were arrested and a third suspended after being discovered committing crimes outside and within their duties.
Two arrested and one suspended: scandal in San Juan Police
Within the space of a few days, at least three police officers from the province of San Juan found themselves facing justice over the alleged commission of offences, according to tiempodesanjuan.com. Two of them ended up arrested and a third was preventively removed from his post. The incidents occurred in contexts unrelated to the performance of their duties, although one of the cases took place inside a police station.
The three cases added to a history of misconduct within the provincial security forces. What is striking, the outlet notes, is that the accused are precisely those with the responsibility of enforcing the law and maintaining public order.
Tyres stolen from police workshop in Rivadavia
The first of the cases began with a search in the Natania XX neighbourhood in Rivadavia. Investigators were looking for stolen goods and found 28 new tyres for cars, vans and motorcycles. The seals and registration numbers made it possible to establish that they belonged to the assets of the Automotive Division of the San Juan Police.
The trail led to corporal Franco Narváez, a member of that workshop, identified as the person who allegedly took the tyres to the home of a relative. When investigators arrived at his residence, neither Narváez nor the tyres were there. Prosecutor Claudia Salica requested his arrest. Finally, the officer presented himself voluntarily to the Property Crimes Unit and was detained.
The investigation aims to determine how the tyres left the police store, how long the operation had been running and whether other members of the force were involved. The courts are evaluating whether this was an isolated incident or a pattern of systematic theft that may have involved more officers.
Taser training specialist arrested for not paying at supermarket
The case of police inspector Matías Carrizo added an especially paradoxical element. A member of the GERAS, Carrizo had become one of the provincial specialists in the handling of Taser guns: he travelled to the United States to receive training and later took charge of workshops designed to instruct other police officers in the use of the weapon.
In September, security cameras at a supermarket in the capital recorded him attempting to leave with products he had not paid for. He paid for part of the purchase, but left other items in his trolley and tried to leave without paying for them. Security guards intercepted him at the door. When police and judicial intervention occurred, Carrizo admitted he was carrying merchandise without payment. The amount was around 76,000 pesos.
The officer offered to pay for the goods and the company decided not to file a complaint. The prosecutor applied a discretionary criterion and did not pursue criminal charges. However, the episode had institutional consequences: the Management Audit Secretariat initiated a disciplinary inquiry and the Security Secretariat imposed his preventive suspension for at least 30 days without pay. Within the force, the handling of the case generated discontent over the contrast with sanctions applied to other officers in similar situations.
Officer sentenced for using colleague's card whilst on duty in Chimbas
The third case occurred within the walls of the 17th Police Station in Chimbas. Martín Isaías Gómez, aged 25, took advantage of the fact that his duty colleague had left his backpack in the station, extracted the wallet and appropriated the debit card. With that card he carried out five transactions totalling around 80,000 pesos at businesses near the station: a car wash, a tyre repair shop, a maxikiosco and a café. Security cameras recorded the officer himself using the card belonging to someone else at the payment terminals.
The operation was uncovered when the card owner finished his shift and began receiving notifications of the purchases. Upon reviewing the transactions, he confirmed that all the operations had been carried out in the vicinity of the police station. Upon inquiring at one of the businesses, he found out that it was a police officer who had used the card. Gómez was arrested, evidence accumulated rapidly and the officer ended up acknowledging his responsibility.
In an abridged trial, the court sentenced him to three years conditional imprisonment for aggravated simple theft due to his status as a police officer and repeated fraud. The case file also revealed that Gómez had already been reassigned to clerical duties and did not carry a service weapon due to a previous violation. For a haul of 80,000 pesos, he added a criminal conviction to that disciplinary record.
Three different situations, one common thread
The three cases present different contexts and methods: theft of institutional assets, shoplifting and theft from a work colleague. However, tiempodesanjuan.com groups them under the same line: officers who, instead of safeguarding property and enforcing the law, allegedly used their position or the access that their duties granted them to commit crimes.
In all three cases, investigations are ongoing or have left concrete administrative and criminal consequences. Narváez's remains open to determine the real scope of the tyre theft. Carrizo's resulted in an institutional suspension despite the criminal avenue not being pursued. Gómez's case closed with a court conviction.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan