October 26, 2004

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  Corrupt Cops

  
  

   According to the Los Angeles Times, a former LAPD officer already serving 15 years on drug trafficking and gun charges has admitted that he and other officers went on a robbery spree that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars between 1998 and 2001. Ruben Palomares, 34, and his gang robbed cash, drugs, guns, and other items in robberies that were staged to look like police raids and sometimes turned violent.

  
  

  Palomares and crew dressed in police uniforms, drove police cars, and flashed their badged during the robberies, he said. They shot at least two men with stun guns, beat another man with a billy club, and tortured yet another man by burning him with a cigarette lighter and sticking a gun in his mouth. The robberies netted at least 700 pounds of marijuana and 100 pounds of cocaine, according to the court documents.

  
  

  The robbery crew included at least five LAPD officers, Palomares said.

  
  

  His attorney told the Times Palomares had become a born again Christian and is trying to make amends for his misdeeds, but under the plea agreement, Palomares can win sentence reductions only if he snitches out his fellow thieves.

  
  

   

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