By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
-- Ralph Mata was an internal
affairs lieutenant for the Miami-Dade Police Department, working in the
division that investigates allegations of wrongdoing by cops.
Outside the office, authorities
allege that the 45-year-old longtime officer worked with a drug trafficking
organization to help plan a murder plot and get guns.
A criminal complaint unsealed
in U.S. District Court in New Jersey Tuesday accuses Mata, also known as
"The Milk Man," of using his role as a police officer to help the
drug trafficking organization in exchange for money and gifts, including a
Rolex watch.
In one instance, the complaint
alleges, Mata arranged to pay two assassins to kill rival drug dealers.
The killers would pose as cops,
pulling over their targets before shooting them, according to the complaint.
"Ultimately, the
(organization) decided not to move forward with the murder plot, but Mata still
received a payment for setting up the meetings," federal prosecutors said
in a statement.
The complaint also alleges that
Mata used his police badge to purchase weapons for drug traffickers.
Mata, according to the
complaint, then used contacts at the airport to transport the weapons in his
carry-on luggage on trips from Miami to the Dominican Republic.
Court documents released by
investigators do not specify the name of the drug trafficking organization with
which Mata allegedly conspired but says the organization has been importing
narcotics from places such as Ecuador and the Dominican Republic by hiding them
"inside shipping containers containing pallets of produce, including
bananas."
The organization "has been
distributing narcotics in New Jersey and elsewhere," the complaint says.
Authorities arrested Mata on
Tuesday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
It was not immediately clear
whether Mata has an attorney, and police officials could not be immediately
reached for comment.
Mata has worked for the
Miami-Dade Police Department since 1992, including directing investigations in
Miami Gardens and working as a lieutenant in the K-9 unit at Miami
International Airport, according to the complaint. Since March 2010, he had
been working in the internal affairs division.
Mata faces charges of aiding
and abetting a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiring to distribute
cocaine and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from
specified unlawful activity.
He is scheduled to appear in
federal court in Florida on Wednesday.
If convicted, Mata could face
life in prison.