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Federal authorities charged 32-year-old Daniel Pent of Paterson with conspiring to deprive the victims of their civil rights “under color of law.”
Pent was part of a group of rogue city officers who “stopped and searched motor vehicles without any justification and stole cash and other items from the occupants,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
They also “illegally stopped and searched individuals in buildings or on the streets of Paterson and seized cash from them,” Carpenito said.
The U.S. attorney revealed last week that the FBI seized texts that he said the officers shared while committing the crimes. Indictments also refer to at least one other unidentified officer, who possibly is cooperating with federal authorities.
SEE: Group Of Rogue Paterson Police Exchanged Texts While Robbing Innocent Victims, FBI Finds
Pent and Ramos stopped and searched a vehicle in Paterson, detained and handcuffed the occupants and stole roughly $10,000 from one of them in February 2017, Carpenito said.
Pent “told Ramos that either they should take all of the money or they should take none of it,” the U.S. attorney said, “and they chose to take all of it. They split the money [among] themselves.”
Pent and Ramos subsequently arrested the victim on charges of loitering in a drug area.
Pent then filled out a prisoner property report claiming the man was found carrying only $36.
A federal grand jury indicted Officer Eudy Ramos last week for his role in the conspiracy and other civil rights and false records charges. His case is pending before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden.
Pent, meanwhile, was scheduled for an initial appearance in federal court in Newark Tuesday afternoon.
FOR MORE DETAILS: Crooked Paterson Cops Stole Guns, Cash In Illegal Stops, Searches, Feds Charge
Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to Monday’s arrest, as well as those of Pent’s alleged accomplices.
He also thanked the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Paterson Police Department, and the Paterson PD’s Office of Internal Affairs for their assistance.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal, deputy chief of Carpenito’s Criminal Division in Newark.
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