By Richard C. Lewis, The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A city police officer was ordered held without bail Thursday for allegedly robbing two individuals during illegal drug transactions, the latest setback for a department trying to rid itself of corruption and scandal.
Patrolman Robert Autieri, 30, of Providence, was charged at his arraignment in Providence District Court with two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of conspiracy. He did not enter a plea.
His lawyer, Stephen Famiglietti, said his client is innocent.
Autieri, a seven-year police veteran, has been suspended without pay, Deputy Chief Andrew Rosenzweig said at a briefing Thursday.
The allegations “shred the trust of our community and are an affront to the men and women who serve us so well,” Rosenzweig said.
Investigators contend Autieri took part in two robberies -- on Jan. 3 and 5. On those occasions, police said, the officer plotted the robberies with accomplices in the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood, where Autieri lives and which is part of his patrol area. At least $24,000 allegedly was taken, as was a gun from one drug buyer, according to court documents.
Police said the accomplices, Jason Tanner, 25, and Samuel Martinez, 28, have been arrested in Miami, and will be charged in Rhode Island.
Police learned of the alleged scheme from Scott Kepner, who went to police on Jan. 5, saying he had been robbed earlier that evening while trying to buy marijuana. Kepner said he was sitting in his car on Simmons Street, in Silver Lake, waiting to make the transaction with Martinez when Tanner walked toward him carrying a duffel bag.
At the same time, Kepner alleged, Autieri pulled up in a police car with his lights flashing. Kepner told police Autieri drew his weapon and told him and another person to get out of the car. Autieri then searched Kepner’s car, took a paper bag with $18,000 and then drove off with Tanner in the police car.
When investigators asked Autieri about the allegation after his shift ended that night, the officer said he had seen Kepner making a drug buy. But he made no report of the incident, according to investigators.
Days later, investigators learned of Autieri’s alleged involvement in another drug-related theft, also in the Silver Lake section. In that incident, on Jan. 3, Nelson Corga arranged to buy marijuana from Tanner. Corga was sitting in his car waiting for Tanner to return with the drugs when Autieri pulled up in a patrol car, according to the affidavit.
The patrolman put Corga and Tanner in the police car, and searched Corga’s car. He then released Corga and drove off with Tanner. When Corga returned to his car, he told police, he discovered that $6,000 in cash he had was missing, as well as money he had for a down payment on a house. Also, he said a handgun he had in the car had been taken during the search.
Investigators found that there was no record of Tanner being arrested on the night in question. Also, two neighborhood residents said they watched the incidents, and identified Autieri as the officer involved in both.
The patrolman made several calls from his cell phone to Tanner, according to records obtained by police.
Famiglietti said his client made the traffic stops because he suspected the men were drug dealers, but released them when he didn’t find drugs. The lawyer said Autieri did not take any money, The Providence Journal reported.
Autieri has no prior disciplinary record, Rosenzweig said, but added he has “an unremarkable record.” Police have not found the money that allegedly was stolen, Rosenzweig said, nor the gun.
The news of the arrest dealt another blow to the beleaguered department in New England’s second-largest city, which has suffered for years from systemic corruption.
Last January, Dean Esserman took over as chief, and pledged to rid the force of undesirables that had besmirched its reputation.
But the corruption has been hard to root out. Since he took office, Esserman learned some recruits accepted into the police academy had gotten bumps in their scores from undocumented interviews with some majors. He also was told a computerized system was secretly recording officers’ telephone calls.
Last week, the department suspended two officers and announced it would try to strip pension benefits from a former chief and a former captain for their alleged involvement in cheating on promotional tests.