3 Miami Officers Charged With Stealing Cash, Drugs

MIAMI —  A federal indictment Wednesday charged three police officers and four other men with stealing more than $1 million in cash, 110 pounds of cocaine and a ton of marijuana from drug dealers.

A separate indictment charged two other officers in a cocaine case.

The cases mark the widest-ranging police corruption indictments since 15 Miami police officers were charged in a drug rip-off ring in 1984 and 1985.

U.S. Atty. Dexter Lehtinen said at a news conference that the defendants arranged for the transfer of honest officers to other assignments as they engaged in ripping off drug dealers between 1981 and 1987.

“They would come into the possession of information about where drug dealers were, where illegal drugs were, and should have engaged in proper law enforcement activities,” Lehtinen said.