Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty For Robbing Marijuana Dealer

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Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia police officers Christopher Luciano, left, and Sean Alivera, right, were involved in the robbery of an undercover officer posing as a marijuana dealer

​One of two former Philadelphia police officers arrested in October in an undercover sting admitted Tuesday to helping drug dealers rob a purported marijuana courier.

Christopher Luciano, 23, pleaded guilty to all counts on which he was charged: robbery, conspiracy, kidnapping, official oppression and possession of a drug with intent to deliver, reports Joseph A. Slobodzian at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian H. Ransom set sentencing for June 7. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Diviny said Luciano faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, and could be sentenced to as much as 67 years.

Diviny said he plans to ask for a sentence “significantly more” than the minimum, but would not give details.
Luciano and his fellow 25th District officer Sean Alivera, 31, were arrested on October 4, 2010. Alivera is expected to plead guilty to the charges on Wednesday.
According to Diviny, investigators at the state Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotic Investigation heard from an informant in September that a Philadelphia drug dealer was boasting he “had connections” with Philadelphia police officers who would help him set up and rob marijuana couriers.
A sting operation was planned in which an undercover Philadelphia police officer posing as a drug courier was given a car containing 20 pounds of marijuana and $4,000 in marked currency.
Alivera and Luciano were seen stopping the vehicle without cause and placing the “drug courier” in the back of their patrol car. One officer looked in the trunk of the vehicle, closed the lid and then two officers drove away.
While they were gone, Diviny continued, a minivan pulled in behind the parked courier car, unloaded the marijuana, and drove away.
Diviny said Alivera and Luciano were then seen returning to the scene. One drove the courier vehicle and followed the patrol car back to the 25th District offices.
As the undercover officer as being processed at the police station, investigators arrested Alivera and Luciano. Diviny said Alivera had $3,000 of the $4,000 in marked bills stashed in his uniform and vest. Real dumb-ass move, there, Officer Alivera!
Although the marijuana was “not recovered,” the drug drug dealers allegedly involved with the police in the theft from the parked courier car were later arrested. They’re scheduled to go to trial in September, according to Diviny.
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