Monday, October 18, 2004

D.A. BROWN: RETIRED DETECTIVE PLEADS GUILTY TO STEALING $169,000 IN NYPD MONEY LAUNDERING “STING” OPERATION; FACES UP TO FIFTEEN YEARS IN PRISON

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a retired New York City Police detective has pled guilty to stealing $169,000 belonging to the New York City Police Department taken during an undercover “sting” operation that was part of a long-term money laundering investigation. The defendant faces up to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant admitted that he posed as an on-duty NYPD Detective and that he stole $169,000 in cash that was being used in a money laundering investigation. His crime betrayed the law enforcement community and the New Yorkers whom he had sworn to protect and serve.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Thomas Rachko, 46, of the Bronx, a former NYPD Detective Second Grade who served for 20 years and retired on February 5, 2002. The defendant pled guilty earlier today to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert M. Raciti. The defendant is expected to be sentenced on February 2, 2005 to an indeterminate term of up to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendant admitted that on November 26, 2003 at about 1:30 p.m. at 91st Street and Astoria Boulevard in Astoria, Queens both he and NYPD Detective Julio Vasquez, 44, of Brooklyn stole $169,000 in cash belonging to the NYPD and which was being used in a money laundering investigation.

The District Attorney said that according to the charges both men were wearing jackets bearing the letters “NYPD” and interfered in an undercover money laundering investigation. Both men approached an individual who was carrying a black shoulder bag containing $169,000 in cash, seized the individual, stated to undercover agents at the scene that they were on a wire, handcuffed the individual and placed him inside their vehicle and drove from the scene.

Defendant Vasquez, an 18-year NYPD veteran, previously pled guilty in the case on April 12, 2004 to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin Brandt who is expected to impose a sentence on February 2, 2005 of one year to three years in prison.

Both defendants also pled guilty earlier this year in a related case in United States District Court in Brooklyn to Conspiracy to Distribute Narcotics and are awaiting sentencing on January 14, 2005 to prison terms up to 27 years.

The investigation was conducted by Sergeant Francis Teran of the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau under the supervision of Captain Thomas Scollen and the overall supervision of Chief Charles V. Campisi.

Assistant District Attorney Theresa E. Smith of the District Attorney's Integrity Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys James M. Liander, Bureau Chief, and Carmencita N. Gutierrez, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.