3 Miami Officers Assisted Drug Ring, DEA Says

Three Miami policemen were arrested Monday for protecting a Colombia-connected drug ring in exchange for cash, gifts and prostitutes, law enforcement officials said.

The officers were among 31 people being rounded up Monday on federal drug charges of distributing up to 95 kilograms of cocaine a week in South Florida, Miami police spokesman Ray Lang said.

The three officers were identified in a Drug Enforcement Administration document as Jorge Lopez, Reinaldo Rodriguez and Luis Sarmiento.

“These police officers provide protection, surveillance, covert intelligence-gathering and enforcement actions for this conspiracy,” DEA agent Lee Lucas said in the arrest affidavit.

The drug ring was reportedly run by alleged traffickers Oscar Cuni and Francisco Novaton from a house only three blocks from the Dade County Jail. Both men were arrested Monday.

For months, DEA agents wiretapped the house and tailed arriving and departing drug shipments.

“Wire interceptions . . . indicate Cuni’s influence on City of Miami police officers,” the affidavit said. “Those intercepts show Cuni receiving information in exchange for cash, gifts and prostitutes.”

The traffickers received their drugs from unidentified Colombian cocaine suppliers, and the police officers provided guard services during some of the deliveries, the DEA said.

Lopez was overheard telling the dealers “he would take care of a narcotics debt owed Cuni,” Lucas’ affidavit said.

Lopez also monitored police scanners at the house and patrolled the neighborhood in an unmarked car to protect the cocaine, the affidavit said.

Sarmiento kept Cuni advised of any Miami police probes and told him how to file complaints against investigating officers, authorities said.

In exchange for one tip, Sarmiento said he would need “one . . . with a comma,” an apparent reference to $1,000, said the affidavit.