Two former Miami-Dade police officers have been sentenced to a year in prison after they admitted partaking in the transportation of what they thought was cocaine in a sting operation by the DEA.
According to Daily Mail, the former officers, identified as 29-year-old Roderick Flowers and Keith Edwards, 31, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The accused men, who are also cousins, were arrested in connection with said the offense in October last year.
The former cops were also said to be huge fans of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s Bad Boys movie franchise, and they even dressed like the duo for Halloween 2019. Flowers also went by the name “Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith’s character in the movie)” on Instagram. And he shared a photo of him and his cousin dressed as the two characters with the caption, “We ride together. We die together. Bad Boys 4 Life.”
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Authorities said the two cousins consented to being hired as bodyguards to oversee the transportation of what they thought was cocaine. The accused men were offered the contract by an undercover DEA agent who acted as a member of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. And the cousins received an advance payment of $5,000 for their services.
Leading up to the said operation, the accused men reportedly bragged about how they could use their SWAT training to facilitate the shipment of the drugs. Flowers and Edward’s prison sentences came after they accepted a plea deal. And in addition to the prison sentence, the two men will also serve two years of supervised release.
“He’s very satisfied with his sentence because it gives him the opportunity to continue with his life,” Flowers’ attorney, David Weinstein, said.
Besides Flowers and Edwards, three other men, including Miami attorney Manny Hernandez, were also apprehended and charged for their involvement in the fake drug sting, CBS Miami reported.
During the operation, authorities said Hernandez informed the undercover DEA agent he was involved in money laundering activities and went ahead to strike a money laundering and drug trafficking deal with the agent.
Hernandez also discussed Flowers with the agent and claimed he had connections with law enforcement officers. The attorney also “bragged about his ability to use law enforcement for his needs,” the complaint stated.
And before being contracted to facilitate the shipment of the drugs, Hernandez allegedly had Flowers run the license plate of a car whose owner the undercover source said owed him money. Hernandez also said “he wanted the confidential source to have the cops in his/her pocket”, adding that “both cops were on his payroll and he could have the cops ready for anything, as both wanted to make money.”
The accused attorney and the undercover agent also spoke about how they could get Flowers to assist with transporting a load of cocaine. They referred to the drug as “White Girls.” Flowers also informed them he “could “orchestrate the escort” and added that “he and his friend would create a scenario or alibi as to why they were in the area in case something went bad.”
The two cousins later helped transport and deliver what they thought was 10 kilos of cocaine to another undercover agent. The former cops and the three other suspects were later arrested.
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