NYPD sergeant first to be fired, lose pension in massive police ticket-fixing scandal
Jacob Solorzano was unable to attend his departmental trial in September because he was in a department-ordered alcohol rehab, his lawyer says. He now intends to sue, claiming he was denied his rights. Solorzano is among 15 cops linked to crimes allegedly committed by Officer Jose Ramos in the ticket-fixing probe.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-sergeant-fired-ticket-fixing-probe-article-1.1542824#ixzz2zY90QeIJ
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-sergeant-fired-ticket-fixing-probe-article-1.1542824
NYPD sergeant first to be fired, lose pension in massive police ticket-fixing scandal
Jacob Solorzano was unable to attend his departmental trial in September because he was in a department-ordered alcohol rehab, his lawyer says. He now intends to sue, claiming he was denied his rights. Solorzano is among 15 cops linked to crimes allegedly committed by Officer Jose Ramos in the ticket-fixing probe.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 3:00 AM
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NYPD identification photos of cops indicted in the ticket-fixing scandal in the Bronx. (Left to right, from top) Joseph Anthony; Virgilio Bencosme; Jason Cenizal; Jennara Cobb; Eugene O'Reilly; Jaime Payan; Ruben Peralta; Jose Ramos; Michael Hernandez; Marc Manara; Christopher Manzi; Brian McGukin; Jeffrey Regan; Luis Rodriguez; Christopher Scott; and Jacob Solorzano.
A police sergeant has been fired and stripped of his pension after being charged in the massive ticket-fixing scandal — the first NYPD cop to lose his job since the investigation began, the Daily News has learned.
Sgt. Jacob Solorzano was linked to crimes allegedly committed by his 40th Precinct colleague in the South Bronx, Officer Jose Ramos, whose ties to a drug dealer first launched the ticket-fixing probe that uncovered alleged wrongdoing by him and 15 other cops.
Solorzano’s lawyer said his client was too sick to appear at his departmental trial in September, but the 20-year NYPD veteran was canned anyway — becoming the first cop linked to the ticket-fixing probe to be dismissed. Now he intends to sue.
“He planned to testify,” Solorzano’s lawyer, Roger Blank, told The News. “But he was unable to participate in his defense.
“We wanted to wait to start the trial, but the intent of the city was to take away his pension,” Blank said. “He was clearly denied his due process rights.”
A source said the 43-year-old sergeant was in department-ordered alcohol rehab at the time.
HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSSgt. Jacob Solorzano, of the 40th Precinct in South Bronx, was the first NYPD officer to be fired in the massive ticket-fixing investigation.
A police source said Solorzano contacted the department about his drinking problem to stall the trial, but Blank insisted it was the department’s recommendation that Solorzano be admitted to a rehab facility.
Solorzano was found guilty of official misconduct, similar to the misdemeanor criminal charges for which he was indicted in 2011 after the sweeping three-year investigation.
Ramos, who sparked the probe, was accused of turning his two Bronx barbershops into a front for drug dealing, robbery and stolen goods. He was already under surveillance for peddling drugs when he was caught on a wiretapped call talking about fixing tickets.
Authorities said Solorzano pretended to make an arrest in a car stop so Ramos could steal $30,000. Little did he know, the target Ramos allegedly tried to rip off turned out to be an undercover detective.
Solorzano was not implicated in the theft.
PEARL GABEL/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWSAn NYPD tow truck tows a car into the tow pound on the West Side Highway on Nov. 15, 2013. The alleged drug ties of Jose Ramos, an officer in the 60th Precinct in South Bronx, led to an investigation into ticket fixing that involved Ramos and 15 other cops.
Solorzano and 15 other cops were indicted in October 2011 and are still awaiting trial on the criminal charges. Ramos is being held on $500,000 bail.
More than 500 cops, most of them officers assigned to the Bronx, have been tainted by the scandal.
More than 200 of the cops have been hit with departmental charges, with about 150 reaching a deal. Most of them lost no more than 30 vacation days as penalty, police sources said.
Cases involving another roughly 60 officers are still pending.
And another 300 were hit with command disciplines and lost no more than 10 vacation days, or they were issued letters of instructions. The letters, detailing the wrongdoing, are placed in the officers’ files and serve as a warning.
RICHARD DREW/APNYPD Sgt. Jacob Solorzano (center) and his attorneys, Andrew Quinn (left) and John Patton, appear in Bronx Supreme Court on Oct. 28, 2011. Solorzano was among 15 cops tied to Officer Jose Ramos of the 40th Precinct, who is accused of crimes in the police ticket-fixing case.
The investigation was at first narrowly focused on Ramos and his alleged connection to Bronx drug dealers. Once he was caught on a wiretap talking about fixing a ticket, the probe exploded into a wider inquiry.
All told, about 139,000 phone calls were secretly recorded as part of the probe. Another 450,000 emails and text messages were intercepted.
Defense lawyers have been arguing against the admissibility of the wiretap evidence in the case.
Five civilians, including Ramos’ wife, Wanda Abreu, have also been indicted. Seven months after the ticket-fixing charges were announced, Ramos and Abreu were accused of conspiring to use money from his pension to try to have a key witness against him murdered.
The couple have denied the charges.
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any public servant caught breaking the law and convicted should be fired and stripped of their pension, especially judges.
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