Luis Hernandez, a 7-year veteran, is accused of fondling a
woman outside his patrol car when he was supposed to transport her to jail.
Instead of transporting a woman to jail, a Miami cop fondled
her and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, authorities said.
Officer Luis Hernandez, 27, was arrested Wednesday and
charged with armed kidnapping and sexual battery by a law enforcement officer.
DNA found on the woman linked him to the attack, prosecutors said.
His arrest comes as the Miami Police Department has sought
to clean house amid a series of scandals involving officer misconduct.
Also Wednesday, the department announced it was firing an
officer who shot and killed an unarmed motorist during a traffic stop in Little
Haiti two years ago. Prosecutors did not file charges, but police nevertheless
said the officer violated department policies.
The internal affairs unit and the FBI is also investigating
up to 10 officers suspected of providing protection to a Liberty City gambling
house; so far, one officer has been arrested.
A Miami detective was also convicted this month in federal
court for stealing money and drugs from suspects.
In Hernandez’s case, he was tasked with transporting to jail
a woman who had been arrested in November 2011 for fighting another woman at La
Boriqua Cafeteria in Wynwood. The woman had been charged with simple battery
and taken to Miami police headquarters.
Instead, Hernandez took the woman to a police detention
center at Bayside Marketplace. Another officer grew concerned because the woman
had injuries, according to an arrest warrant.
That officer took the woman to Miami-Dade County Jail, which
refused to accept her because of her injuries. She immediately told jailers
that Hernandez had attacked her.
Internal affairs Detective Herminia Salas-Jacobson noted
that there were 34 minutes of “unaccounted time” that Hernandez had the woman
in his control.
The woman told investigators that Hernandez drove her to an
area near the police station, saying “I am going to help you,” according to the
arrest warrant.
Outside the patrol car, Hernandez poured a “liquid” on her
and began fondling her, the warrant said. He also demanded oral sex, but the
crying woman refused. He later stopped and drove her to Bayside.
At the jail, she “explained that although she is an illegal
alien and has no immigration documents and no family in this country, she
reported the incident because she believed this could happen to more people if
she did not disclose,” the warrant said.
Hernandez is not the first officer to be accused of sexual
misconduct. Ex-Miami Officer Michael Ragusa pleaded guilty in 2008 to sexual
attacks on three woman; he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.