MIAMI – A Miami police officer accused of providing protection to a drug dealer has been arrested.
Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa and Miami-Dade County state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the arrest of Officer Jose Maldonado-Dick during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Rundle said Maldonado-Dick met with a police informant posing as a drug dealer in September and offered his protection for illegal drug sales.
"It was that authority that he used to facilitate the narcotics transaction," she said.
According to the arrest report, Maldonado-Dick and the informant met again and planned the deal for the next day in a McDonald's parking lot in his patrol area of Wynwood.
"He was comfortable in that area because that was the area that he normally patrolled," Rundle said.
The report said Maldonado-Dick was paid $900 for facilitating the Oct. 3 transaction in which three kilograms of cocaine were exchanged. Another transaction -- this time for seven kilograms -- occurred Oct. 16 at the same location, earning Maldonado-Dick $1,000, the report said.
Maldonado-Dick, who is a seven-year veteran of the Miami Police Department, is charged with two counts of armed cocaine trafficking, two counts of unlawful compensation and two counts of unlawful use of a communication device.
Rundle said the investigation began after a tip from "someone who cared enough to go to the police department."
"It's a happy day to get rid of him," Oroso said. "It's a happy day to arrest him."
Maldonado-Dick was taken into custody Wednesday and being held without bond.
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