Ex-Hialeah chief asks to dismiss public corruption case, says due process violated
Hialeah's former police chief says Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents who took him into custody two weeks ago used unnecessary force and were overly aggressive with his wife. According to a motion to dismiss the charges filed in court last week, agents forced Sergio Velazquez's wife up against a police vehicle and ordered her to sit in a chair on the front lawn close to the road as they searched her home.
The nine-page complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court says the former chief should have had an opportunity to turn himself in. Instead, the motion says, more than a dozen agents followed Velazquez in his car as he and his wife drove from their home. The couple were then stopped at a busy Miami Lakes intersection by agents who had their weapons drawn.
'It was a full-blown takedown/showdown at a Miami Lakes intersection,' the motion says. 'Brandishing pistols and rifles pointed at him.'
READ MORE: Ex-Hialeah police chief busted for stealing almost $600k from city coffers, state says
The motion also says investigators unlocked a safe in Velazquez's home and 'stole' a gold Cuban coin, a gold wristwatch and religious books, and that Velazquez's wife was told to unlock the home or they'd break the door down. And, it says, they took screenshots on his wife's phone against her wishes.
Velazquez, 61, bonded out of jail after spending a night behind bars. He argues his Fifth and 14th amendment rights to due process were violated and that the charges should be dropped.
The way agents arrested Velazquez 'was unnecessary, abusive and dangerous,' his attorney Rick Diaz said. 'There will not be a plea in this case. We're prepared to go to trial.'
Velazquez has denied the charges.
A spokesman with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office refused to comment on the motion.
Probe took three years and 100 subpoenas
During a press conference at the State Attorney's Office two weeks ago, prosecutors said it took investigators from the FDLE three years and more than 100 subpoenas to uncover an elaborate scheme in which Velazquez stuffed safes in his office with petty cash he'd requested from the city's finance department.
The money — which was intended mostly for undercover drug stings — was then transferred to personal bank accounts that Velazquez also controlled, they said. Investigators said they were able to identify as much as $600,000 that Velazquez stole in just an eight-month period from May through early November 2021, when he was relieved of duty by the new mayor.
During that time frame, investigators say Velazquez made 62 deposits totaling $140,000 into bank accounts he controlled. Each of the deposits was under $10,000, enabling the former chief to skirt questions on the money's origins.
Investigators believe the thefts could go back to 2013 and said there may be additional charges. Also mostly unaccounted for — Velazquez's arrest warrant says — is $1 million from court-awarded civil forfeitures and 147 checks totaling $3.2 million that was meant primarily for drug operations.
Investigators say the former chief made some elaborate purchases during that time frame that included Rolex watches and goods from Versace and Gucci, though they haven't directly linked those purchases to stolen money.
History of scandal
This isn't the first time Velazquez has been rocked by scandal.
Named chief in 2012, Velazquez climbed the ranks despite a string of disciplinary actions against him as a patrol officer. Some accusations led to an 18-month FDLE investigation over 'a pattern of criminal misconduct' that was eventually dropped for lack of evidence.
In one instance he was investigated for dating a woman he met at the police station, who was hauled in for driving under the influence. Another time, he was alleged to have torched the vehicle of a man whose former girlfriend was dating Velazquez.
He was also heavily criticized for the way he dealt with Jesus Menocal Jr., a former Hialeah police sergeant who was sent to prison for three years in 2022 after pleading guilty to using his badge to force women into having sex with him. Years before Menocal's guilty plea, Velazquez left him patrolling, despite complaints of sexual assaults from four women, one a minor.
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