| Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Philadelphia Police officers Christopher Luciano, left, and Sean Alivera, right, have been charged with robbing a an undercover investigator posing as a drug dealer. |
Two Philadelphia police officers were arrested Monday evening and charged with robbing an undercover investigator posing as a pot dealer, authorities admitted Tuesday.
Officers Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23, allegedly stole 20 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 in cash, reports Troy Graham at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Both officers, who were partners in the 25th District, were arrested at the district headquarters in what must have been a priceless scene. They were still in custody Tuesday morning, after being charged with robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, and other distinctly cop-like crimes.
Rumors had been going around about Alivera and Luciano were shaking down drug dealers. The story made its way from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Narcotics Investigations to the Philadelphia Police Department about two weeks ago.
Investigators from the police and the district attorney’s office set up a sting operation that resulted with Monday’s robbery of an undercover Philadelphia police officer, according to police.
The robbery was captured on video surveillance, according to District Attorney Seth Williams. The officers planned to keep the money and sell the marijuana, according to authorities.
“Police corruption will not be tolerated,” Williams said. “We will root out bad cops, and we will prosecute them for the disgraceful thugs and scum that they are.”
“This is another embarassment for our department, another in a long list, unfortunately,” Williams said Tuesday morning at a news conference announcing the arrests.
The arrests come just months after three other crooked officers were caught in a federal sting and charged with stealing herion from a drug dealer. One of those officers also was from the 25th District, which covers drug-infested areas of North Philadephia and Kensington.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said both officers soon would have their crooked cop asses fired — OK, he didn’t put it exactly that way, but that’s still basically what he said — and that no cop would ever wear their badge numbers again.
That rocks pretty hard, but it would be even cooler if they could, like, strip the cops’ badges off them, like in the beginning of Chuck Connors’ Branded? Just a thought…
Neither Alivera, a 10-year veteran, nor Luciano, a three-year cop, had “significant” histories with Internal Affairs. He claimed the two officers were not “on our radar” until the tip was passed from the state attorney general’s office.
