What's with Sweetwater and those free damn police cars?

Last week we left off with a set of documents we unearthed where the City of Sweetwater's then mayor, Jose "Pepe" Diaz, begged the City of South Miami for some of their old police cars.  While I can't understand why the hell Sweetwater would want to get cars from a place like South Miami, what makes the whole deal make sense is that at the time of the request, former City of South Miami police chief, Orlando Martinez de Castro then deputy director of public works in South Miami, was also working in some capacity at the City of Sweetwater so essentially he was giving the cars to himself.

With that said, one of our readers from way back chimed in yesterday on the topic of Sweetwater and their relentless pursuit of free cars...

Straw Buyer,

You need to also look at the City of Miami for the same scheme. Back in 2010, Mayor Regalado and Commissioner Gort were trying to donate Police cruisers to the City of Sweetwater. The former Purchasing Director objected to the donation and recommended that these vehicles be publicly auctioned off and if the City of Sweetwater were so interested they could do by participating and acquiring it through a competitive process. At that time, then City Manager Carlos Migoya publicly attacked the former Purchasing Director during the City Commission Meeting held on 2/25/10. If you get the minutes, you will see for yourself. They got rid of the Purchasing Director because he was too honest and ethical. This has been an on-going scheme of vehicles being donated and then sold for profit. Get the minutes and see for yourself.

Sincerely,

North Observer

No kidding?  Vehicles donated then sold for profit?  I wonder if that's the case over at Sweetwater?  After all, if they really wanted the cars for parts, like the North Observer said, why wouldn't they just buy them at auction rather than go begging for them and leave themselves wide open to ridicule and this kind of speculation?  Furthermore, the letter from our last post where then mayor of Sweetwater, Jose "Pepe" Diaz, asks for the cars for parts to keep their fleet of cars going makes no sense whatsoever as the labor cost of swapping the engines far outweighs what the cars are worth.  Also, one must consider what value a high mile drive train has coming out of a car that's been retired from a police department because of it's age and high miles?  

Somethings haywire here, we're sifting through loads of paperwork now looking for an answer, in the interim, tomorrow we'll take a look at how the mayor's race over in South Miami is shaping up.

Like a criminal enterprise...

That's how City of Sweetwater resident Deborah Centeno described how former Sweetwater Manny Maroño and his crew ran the city in this Miami Herald article.  While the attention Sweetwater and it's former mayor and friends has been getting lately is all well and good, somehow no one has made the link between the shenanigans in Sweetwater and our favorite little town, South Miami, and it's former Chief of Police, Orlando Martinez de Castro.

Let's not forget that when the City of South Miami would set up DUI checkpoints there was usually Sweetwater cops at those checkpoints or when there were drug raids in the black areas of South Miami, once again, there were Sweetwater cops on the scene.  Now, it's not like Sweetwater is the next town over from South Miami, Sweetwater is actually located nearly ten miles away from South Miami, so the question that begs to be asked is why the hell were Sweetwater cops spending so much time over in South Miami?

It's also worth mentioning that both former chief Orlando Martinez de Castro and South Miami Detective Lopez both had jobs over at Sweetwater before coming over to South Miami, the later of which fled Sweetwater while he was under investigation for beating up a citizen.

There's much more brewing just below the surface regarding the relationship between Sweetwater, it's former mayor and the City of South Miami's former police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro.  While the Herald article recently touched upon the common denominator, Southland Towing, I'm told that that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Let's see what we can turn up, I get the feeling that the tenticles of Sweetwater's "Criminal Enterprise" have deep roots over in South Miami's former chief's administration.

You'll never believe where shitty cops from Sweetwater end up...

We left off last time discussing a video showing a Sweetwater cop beating the shit out of a man with his hands cuffed behind his back who was being beaten because he wouldn't put his hands on the counter in front of him.  While this incident occurred back in 2010, it's not the first case of a horrendous beating at the hands of the Sweetwater PD.  Take a look at this story from back in 2003, here are some of the salient points from the article...

A 19- year-old man has accused three police officers of severely beating him, and says the mayor later saw them punch him in the head before driving them all to the station.

I guess the beating had the mayoral seal of approval!

Four Sweetwater police officers have been suspended with pay while the Miami-Dade County state attorney's office and the police department investigate what happened to Peter Daniel on June 18.

Suspended with pay? What kind of punishment is that? Someone please suspend me with pay!

Sweetwater Mayor Manuel Marono said that his city- owned Ford Excursion was used to take Daniel to the station, but he refused further comment.

Sweet! I suppose ex Mayor Morono was a hands on kind of guy!

A police report filed by another of the suspended officers, Allen St. Germain, said Daniel threw himself several times against the floor of the police station and the wall of his holding cell.

Of course he did!

Boros said that at the police station, police kicked and beat Daniel. At one point an officer lifted Daniel off the floor as another officer punched him in the stomach, he said.

Daniel said at one point, Boros said, the mayor sat next to him and saw one of the officers punch him in the head.

Is this how mayoral meetings go over at the City of Sweetwater?

Then, Boros said, the mayor returned to the driver's seat and drove Daniel and his friend, Danny Izquierdo, back to the station, where Izquierdo was questioned for a while, then released.

Like I said, former mayor Morono was a hands on kind of guy!  Here's the best part though...

The other officers suspended were Jose F. Lopez and Sgt. George I. Alvarez.

While I don't recognize any of the other officers, I certainly do recognize Mr. Jose F. Lopez. From the Herald Tribune's Florida police officer database...

Jose F. Lopez

SWEET!  So he's involved in beating the shit out of this poor guy, get's a complaint filed against him, miraculously the Sweetwater PD find no cause and don't discipline him yet quits while under investigation and ends up becoming a detective over at the South Miami PD under former police chief Orlando Martinez de Castro!  

I know very little about this Lopez character, perhaps our readers can fill us in?

Sweetwater police!

With all this talk about corruption over at Sweetwater recently, this video of a Sweetwater cop beating a poor guy that in custody has begun making the rounds again, take a look...



From the CBS4 story from a couple of years back...

But other questions are raised by the officer’s sworn arrest affidavit from the April 17, 2010 incident.
(officer) Abreu claimed that once they arrived at the station, he ordered Dominguez “4 to 6” times to place his hands on the counter inside the police department. He said Dominguez refused to comply with his demands. Abreu also swore that “suspect launch forward toward officer” and that as a result the suspect was “taken down to floor.” Abreu added the charge of resisting arrest with violence against Dominguez.

OK! But...

A review of the video, however, shows that Dominguez, 38, could not possibly comply with Abreu’s command to place his hands on the counter because his hands were cuffed behind his back. Also nowhere on the video is Dominguez seen launching himself toward the officer. On the contrary, Dominguez was standing still when Abreu grabbed him and threw him to the ground.

And of course...

Neither the State Attorney nor the Sweetwater Police Department addressed the issue of whether Abreu may have filed a false report under oath or whether he intentionally charged Dominguez with a crime he did not commit.

Did you expect any different?  That brings us to the old joke, How many Sweetwater police officers does it take to throw a defendant down a flight of stairs?  None, the defendant fell on his own, repeatedly.

So what's this got to do with our ongoing stories about South Miami?  Stay tuned, on Monday we'll illustrate the link between Sweetwater, police brutality, cover ups and the South Miami Police Department...