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Traffic officer suspected of collecting bribes arrested
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Prosecutor's Office of Anticorruption in the province of Guanacaste confirmed the arrest of a traffic police officer in the city of Liberia, who is being investigated as a suspect in the alleged crime of bribery.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the detention was made on Friday during a raid on the house of the suspect, a woman surnamed Díaz-Aragón, in the town of Buenos Aires*.
In addition to the arrest of the suspect, the officers seized documents that will be used as relevant evidence for the investigation.
"The suspect may have received between $88 to $105 from a man, in exchange for giving back a driver, the plates of his car. Those plates were confiscated by another traffic officer, on April 11, 2019," the Prosecutor's Office said in its statement.
According to judicial agents, that action would have occurred between April and May of this year, when "Díaz-Aragón took advantage of a lack of supervision and took the plates to return it to the owner of the car," said the Prosecutor's Office in its statement.
In addition to the confiscation of the documents in the house of the suspect, the judicial agents found three wild birds that were caged and wet, since they remained outdoors.
Having wild birds in captivity is prohibited by the Wildlife Conservation Law. The animals were confiscated and handed over to the Ministry of Environment and Energy.
Following the Wildlife Conservation Law, Article 110, anyone placing a wild animal in captivity or as a pet will be sanctioned, and animals will be taken to the National System of Conservation Areas.
The situation adds another possible crime for the suspect, for alleged illegal possession of wild species, said the judicial agents on its report.
The suspect was taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where she was interrogated by the judicial agents, and after that, she must wait until a judge orders the pre-trial measures against her.
Related to officers arrested for alleged illegal bribes, as A.M. Costa Rica reported on January 31st, agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization arrested a 39-year-old traffic officer, whose surname was not published for security measures.
The officer was suspected of asking for a bribe, which is called a "crime of collusion."
The legal term, "crime of collusion," is used when a public employee uses his position to request a 'payment or contribution' which is essentially a bribe.
According to the police report, the officer was arrested at his workplace at 6:00 a.m. in downtown San José.*
The alleged crime occurred in June 2018. The victim was driving through San José and was stopped by a pick-up truck driven by the accused. The accused, wearing a police uniform, approached the driver and informed him that he was going to be ticketed for reckless driving. The officer offered to forget the fine if the driver paid about $82.00, said the police report.
The officer was off duty at the time.
The accused was sent to the cells of the Public Ministry. A judge ordered him not to contact any of the witnesses of the case, to not leave the country, and to appear at the court every 15 days.
Another case was reported on Jan. 23rd when judicial agents detained two traffic police officers, one surnamed Cordero and the other surnamed Aguero. Both as suspects in the crimes of authority abuse and collusion.
According to the judicial report, the arrests were made when both officials showed up at their place of work in Zapote.*
The investigation of this case, began in the middle of Nov. 2018, after the Specialized Traffic Section received a complaint from a woman saying that she had been approached by two traffic officers, in the area of La Sabana in San José.
Apparently, the woman committed an infraction and was followed by two officers who told her to stop. "Then they told her that they would take her license or fine her for about $500", said the judicial agents on its report.
Judicial agents alleged that the officers offered to take the driver to an ATM to withdraw money.
They are also accused of taking the $8.30 in cash the driver had.
According to the judicial report, the two traffic officers were taken to the Public Prosecutor's Office where a judge set pre-trial measures as - do not contact any witness of the case, do not leave the country, and to appear at the court every 15 days.
The agents suspect that those are not the only cases in which these suspects have approached drivers.
For that reason, the police are calling on the public to report if they have been approached by an official. Complaints can be made by phone using this number 800-8000-645, where bilingual staff can handle the accusation.
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