Former New York police officer gets 20 years for robbery

[The Northerner]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former New York City police officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for his role in a string of more than 100 violent robberies of narcotics traffickers. The robberies netted more than $4 million in drug proceeds.

Jorge Arbaje-Diaz, 31, was arrested in 2008 and charged in Brooklyn federal court along with 14 other members of a violent robbery crew that prosecutors say posed as police officers to rob narcotics dealers along the East Coast of the U.S. Arbaje-Diaz and one other member of the crew were the only two real officers.

In May of last year, he pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery conspiracy and narcotics-trafficking conspiracy.

According to prosecutors, Arbaje-Diaz used his status as a police officer to gain access to narcotics traffickers' houses. Once inside, crew members bound and tortured some of their victims, demanding to know where drugs and money were kept, prosecutors said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110608/us_nm/us_newyork_nypdsentence