Alex Wigglesworth, PHILLY.COM
A
former Philadelphia Police Department narcotics officer was convicted Friday of
lying to federal investigators about his romance with a confidential informant.
Robertito
Fontan, 42, in 2003 recruited the informant, who was facing felony drug
trafficking charges at the time. According to an indictment handed down in
December 2012, Fontan met the woman inside a Court of Common Pleas courtroom
and told her he could help her with her drug case. He then introduced the woman
to other officers and suggested she could work as a confidential informant.
Prosecutors
said Fontan and the informant several months later became intimate. During the
course of their relationship, Fontan gave the woman cash and gifts, including a
nearly $2,300 trip to Disney World.
The
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2007 began investigating the
informant's former paramour, a reputed drug dealer who fathered her adolescent
son. Fontan, who assisted with the investigation, is accused of tipping off the
woman to the indictment. Prosecutors said the woman on several occasions passed
information about the pending charges onto her ex.
The
FBI the next year launched an inquiry into a suspected information leak in the
DEA investigation. Agents as part of the investigation interviewed Fontan, who
denied he'd been romantically involved with or divulged information to the
informant.
A
grand jury indicted Fontan on three counts of making false statements to
federal investigators. He was suspended from the force for 30 days with the
intent to dismiss. A jury on Friday returned a guilty verdict in the case.
Fontan
faces a maximum prison term of 10 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced
during a hearing April 28.
