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Pr. George’s officer charged in theft

 A Prince George’s County police officer was charged criminally with theft and misconduct in office Monday, accused of trying to swipe an expensive camera from the department’s property warehouse, authorities said.

 A property commander tipped internal affairs detectives that Martin Abundez, a six-year veteran of the department, walked out of the Lanham warehouse with the camera concealed in some type of backpack, said Prince George’s Assistant Chief Kevin Davis. He said internal affairs detectives worked with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office to investigate the case and that they do not think Abundez was responsible for widespread theft.

We think it was a singular incident,” Davis said. “We’ve investigated him and have taken an accounting — a very thorough accounting — of the property warehouse. We don’t think he stole anything else.”

Abundez was working desk duty because of misconduct unrelated to his job when the incident occurred Jan. 18, Davis said. Abundez was placed on paid administrative leave after the theft, Davis said, and a suspension hearing is scheduled for this week.

Davis declined to give details on Abundez’s earlier misconduct.

Someone repeatedly answered and hung up a phone number listed for Abundez when a reporter called Tuesday afternoon, and no one returned a message left on what appeared to be another number for him. Vince Canales, president of the county’s Fraternal Order of Police, declined to comment and said he was doing so on Abundez’s behalf.

Davis said investigators believe the camera was worth a few thousand dollars. He said it was not evidence in any upcoming trials and that he was unsure where police had initially recovered it.

Prosecutors initially charged Abundez by way of a criminal information — meaning he was served with charging paperwork and not arrested — with theft between $10,000 and $100,000, theft less than $1,000 and two counts of misconduct in office, court records show. Davis said prosecutors would amend those charges to better reflect the camera’s value.

All of the charges reference the Jan. 18 incident, court records show.

Davis credited the property commander — whom he declined to name because he is a witness in the case — with acting swiftly to stanch Abundez’s misdeeds.

“He didn’t overlook it,” Davis said. “He didn’t excuse it.”

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.