Miami, Florida
Veteran Miami-Dade police officer Emil Van Lugo looks pretty good on camera, using a county pump to fill up his police cruiser and then his personal gas can. However, the bad news for him is that the video was being recorded by undercover detectives and it’s the personal gas can that caused a stink.
What caused an even bigger stink is where the gas can was headed. You guessed it, to the officer’s home and into the tank of his wife’s BMW.
According to authorities, Lugo did this from January through March of this year.
An investigation was launched by Miami-Dade police and the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office after computer records tracing the amount of fuel consumed appeared to exceed the miles driven by his police-issued vehicle.
"It is a shame that a veteran police officer would go out of his way to steal from Miami-Dade County just to save a few dollars on gasoline," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. "A police officer, who would sell his good name and his integrity just to put gas into his wife's car, tarnishes the reputation of every good officer on the force. I applaud the actions of the Miami-Dade Police Department to investigate and correct this theft problem."
"Integrity is the foundation of the Miami-Dade Police Department, and it is imperative that we maintain the community’s trust," Miami-Dade Police Director J.D. Patterson said. "Anytime one of our officers tarnishes the badge, we will hold them accountable to the law, in order to not jeopardize that trust."
Lugo is being held in jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond.
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