Posted on 09/10/2001 5:49:22 PM PDT by kattracks
MIAMI (AP) - A fired Miami police officer suspected in a string of deadly shootings and wrongdoing was ordered jailed until trial Monday after prosecutors warned he might intimidate witnesses.
Jesus Aguero is the only one of 13 current or former members of special Miami police squads to be detained. All have been charged with planting guns at crime scenes and covering up four questionable police shootings that left three people dead.
Aguero fired shots in two of the shootings and allegedly pocketed guns for later use as "throw-down" weapons, prosecutors say.
Defense attorney Hugo Rodriguez said the government's case against Aguero was an embellished version of events and questioned the reliability of one of two retired officers who have agreed to testify.
However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Allan Kaiser said Aguero also played a role in a cover-up following the shooting death of a drug suspect, which spawned a riot, and was accused of raping a woman in 1988.
Retired Officers John Mervolion and William Hames said they feared Aguero the most among those charged, Kaiser added. Mervolion accused Aguero of uttering racial epithets over the body of a black robber shot to death in the back while fleeing police.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber ordered Aguero, a father of three children under age 5, to be held as a danger to the community.
Ten other indicted officers were freed on $100,000 bond. The retired officers who pleaded guilty also are free.
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