Cops on gang charges

TWO policemen have become the first lawmen to be charged with offences relating to gang activity. PCs Don Balgobin and Angelo Cedeno yesterday appeared before Arima magistrate Joanne Connor and were granted bail.

A third man, Jean-Michel Alonzo Staple, a civilian, was charged with being a gang member and providing support to a gang. Balgobin was charged with corruptly obtaining an undisclosed sum of money from a gang leader, sometime between March 31 and May 1, to forego prosecution in a drug-trafficking matter. Balgobin, 39, who lives at KP Lands in Valencia, was granted bail of $85,000 or a cash alternative of $15,000. He has been a police officer for the last 15 years. He was ordered to surrender his passport and return to court on April 2.

Cedeno, 40, of Jitman Drive, Arouca, was charged with misbehaving in office by trafficking cocaine, sometime between December 31, 2017 and July 1, 2018, and providing ammunition to an Arouca gang between May 31 and July 1.

Cedeno, who is currently before the courts on a charge of common assault, was also ordered to surrender his passport and was granted $200,000 bail or a cash alternative of $30,000. He has five children.

The charge against Staple alleges that between May 21, 2017 and March 24, 2018, he provided support to a gang and between May 21, 2018 to February, was a gang member. Since his criminal record was not available, Connor adjourned the matter to today, when she will consider his bail.

The two policemen are the first to be charged with offences relating to gang activity. They were arrested two weekends ago. Also detained with them was another policeman who is a relative of former police commissioner Stephen Williams.

Williams’ relative and another policeman were arrested on February 21 by the OCIU at the Arouca police station after they returned from court. Their lockers were reportedly searched, their cell phone seized and their homes searched.

A third officer, who is currently before the courts on a charge of common assault, was held on February 23. Williams’ relative was released on Wednesday, Newsday was told. After they were arrested, police sought detention orders from the High Court to hold the men until the end of this week to continue their investigations. The policemen sought to have the detention orders lifted, but one of the judges who granted the order refused to do so and also handed down guidelines to the police on detaining suspects under the Anti-Gang Act of 2018.

Last month, police said four suspects from a known gang based in the Five Rivers, Arouca area were arrested and charged with offences under the Anti-Gang Act. From October 2018 to then, in total seven people were arrested and charged.

The legislation was proclaimed by President Paula-Mae Weekes in May last year, and at the time the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs said: “This act is one of several legislative measures that have been undertaken to buttress the criminal justice system and assist law enforcement in its fight against crime.” The act was passed on May 4, 2018, and assented to by the President on May 15.