Jury selection was completed in
federal court Monday in the corruption trial of two San Francisco police
officers accused of stealing money and property during searches in 2009.
Opening statements and
testimony in the trial of Sgt. Ian Furminger, 48, of Pleasant Hill and Officer
Edmond Robles, 47, of Danville are expected to begin Nov. 10 before the jury in
the court of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco.
The officers were all part of
plainclothes investigation teams whose alleged misdeeds in searches conducted
at single-room-occupancy hotels in the Mission and Tenderloin and on Sixth
Street -- including allegedly searching rooms without warrants -- were captured
on video revealed by the Public Defender's Office in 2011.
A third defendant, former Officer
Reynaldo Vargas, 46, of Palm Desert, pleaded guilty before Breyer to four
felony counts Oct. 28 and agreed to testify against the other two men.
Following that plea bargain,
prosecutors obtained a revised and expanded grand jury indictment against Furminger
and Robles on Oct. 30.
The officers were originally
charged in a six-count indictment in February. The revised indictment contains
nine counts, including new charges of using wire communications to commit fraud
and depriving the people of San Francisco of the officers' honest services.
Both Furminger and Robles are
charged with eight counts and the ninth charge accuses Furminger alone of
extorting property from an individual identified by the initials S.S. in 2011
and 2012.
The other eight counts include
two counts of wire fraud, two counts of honest services fraud, conspiracy
against civil rights, conspiracy to commit theft from a federally funded
program, theft and conspiracy to distribute drugs.
A previous charge of selling
marijuana was dropped from the revised indictment against Furminger and Robles.
The theft-conspiracy count adds
new examples of alleged thefts during searches.
In addition to an earlier
allegation that the officers stole a $500 Apple gift card during an apartment
search in March 2009, the revised conspiracy count also alleges that either
Robles or both Robles and Furminger joined Vargas in stealing money during four
other searches in Newark and San Francisco between May and November 2009.
After stealing the money, the
officers "split it among themselves" each time, the indictment
alleges.
The counts each carry maximum
sentences ranging from three to 10 years in prison, if the officers are
convicted.
Vargas pleaded guilty before
Breyer last week to charges in the original indictment of conspiracy to
distribute drugs, distribution of marijuana, conspiracy to commit theft, and
theft of more than $5,000 worth of property from a federally funded program.
A sentencing date has not been
set.
