2 officers plead guilty to framing teen to boost stats

MIAMI – Two former police officers for a small Florida community accused of framing a teen for several burglaries to improve their arrest statistics have pleaded guilty to depriving the teen of his civil rights.

A U.S. attorney’s office news release says former officers Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez entered their pleas Friday. They each face up to a year in prison at an Oct. 16 sentencing.

An indictment says former Biscayne Park police Chief Raimundo Atesiano ordered Dayoub and Fernandez to arrest the unnamed 16-year-old in June 2013 to maintain a fictitious 100 per cent clearance rate of reported burglaries. Prosecutors say the teen was charged in four unsolved burglaries, even though the former chief and officers knew there was no evidence to support the charges.

Atesiano has also been charged in the case.