Former police chief pleads guilty to framing Black men

Former Biscayne Park Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano has pleaded guilty to ordering several officers to make false arrests, reports the Associated Press. A U.S. attorney’s office news release says Atesiano pleaded in Miami federal court to conspiring with Biscayne Park police officers to violate individuals’ civil rights. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his scheduled sentencing Nov. 27. Prosecutors say Atesiano instructed three officers, who have previously pleaded guilty to false arrest charges, to apprehend and charge individuals without legal basis to maintain a fictitious 100 percent clearance rate of reported burglaries. Authorities say officers charged an unnamed 16-year-old in June 2013 in four unsolved burglaries, although the former chief and officers knew there was no evidence to support the charges.