Three police officers last attached to the Rapid Response Unit will appear before Port-of-Spain magistrate today charged with misbehaviour in public office, after they were arrested for allegedly accepting a total of $6,500 to forego prosecution against a Diego Martin man.
The men, Anderson Richards, 36, Nicholas Henry, 34 and Ronald Modeste, 26, were arrested between last Wednesday night and Thursday morning following a sting operation by the Professional Standards Bureau.
The officers were last working out of the Western Division and are all Special Reserve Police officers. The men, who are being represented by Fareed Ali, were granted $80,000 station bail.
It is alleged that the men, with between six to 11 years experience as officers collectively, misbehaved in public office on November 27 and 30 by corruptly soliciting from a member of the public, $4,500 and $2,000, as an inducement to not investigate a suspected criminal offence of human trafficking.
The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions gave the go ahead to charge the men on Saturday. The three will be among five officers who have appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate within a week. Last Monday, Supt Wayne Thongs and SRP Constable Dayna Spencer appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John, charged with engaging in a series of acts tending to pervert the course of public justice and misbehaviour in public office.
It is alleged that while attached to the RRU, Spencer, 40, presented duty slips to Thongs, 55, in February 2015 for work she reportedly had not done and for which he is alleged to have authorised for payment. The duo will reappear in court on February 6, 2017. Then last Thursday, SRP Shireen Khan appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate and was granted $15,000 bail to re-appear in court on December 8, after she was arrested on an outstanding warrant for prostitution.
The warrant was issued in 1996 for the alleged offence which would have happened the previous year.