PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A
Philadelphia cop is charged with participating in a scheme to extort drugs and
money from drug dealers and drug buyers while working as a Philadelphia Police
officer.
According to the indictment,
Christopher Saravello, 37, conspired with others to rob the dealers and buyers
of cash and Oxycontin as well as other controlled substances between Nov. 2011
and June 2012.
Saravello’s co-conspirators
would allegedly alert him to a drug transaction, which Saravello would then
interrupt. At that point, he’d identify himself as a police officer by
approaching the interaction in a marked police car, wearing his uniform, and
display an official badge or ID or verbally ID himself as a police officer.
Saravello would then reportedly
seize the drugs being sold or the money paid by the drug buyer and share the
stolen items with his co-conspirators.
The alleged conspiracy resulted
in more than $9,800 in drug money as well as quantities of Oxycontin and other
narcotics.
Saravello was arrested on Nov.
5, 2014 and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion
and five counts of Hobbs Act extortion.
If convicted, he faces a
maximum sentence of 120 years in prison, a $1.25 million fine, three years of
supervised release and a $600 special assessment.
You may also be interested in
these stories:
