Three NYPD cops had been charged with stealing virtually $3000-worth of JAY-Z’s Ace of Spades champagne from final yr’s Electrical Zoo competition, Billboard experiences.
Jonathan Gonzalez, 33, and Wojciech Czech, 44, will every face the felony expenses of grand larceny within the fourth diploma and prison possession of stolen property within the fourth diploma, Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg introduced. Gonzalez and one other detective, 31-year-old Warren Golden, can even be charged with official misconduct.
All three officers had been working narcotics at Electrical Zoo, the New York digital music competition, once they seen that VIP concertgoers ordered a number of bottles of JAY-Z’s Armand de Brignac, referred to as Ace of Spades. Based on prosecutors, when the attendees stepped approach, Gonzalez took two bottles — valued at $2900 — and, together with Czech, positioned them right into a backpack whereas Golden stood by. The officers then left the VIP tent and compelled their approach right into a staff-only space once they had been confronted by concertgoers who witnessed and reported the theft to safety.
“Following a quick interplay between the attendees, the defendants, and the safety officer, the 2 bottles had been taken from defendant Gonzalez’s bag and returned to the attendees,” the official charging doc notes. “The three defendants then left the world and returned to their command. The safety officer notified his supervisors, who in flip notified the NYPD.”
Bragg denounced the officers’ habits in an announcement. “Along with the alleged theft that occurred, not one of the Officers working on the occasion stepped up and stopped this exercise,” he stated. “Public confidence within the prison justice system depends upon members of regulation enforcement performing with the utmost integrity whereas on obligation and following the identical guidelines that apply to everybody else.”
The NYPD instructed Billboard that two detectives had been arrested suspended from obligation following announcement of the costs, however didn’t specify which two officers had been arrested. Beneath New York regulation, expenses of fourth-degree grand larceny and possession of stolen property may end up in as much as 4 years in jail. If defendants cooperate, nevertheless, they may find yourself with solely probation and fines.
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