Ex-Hialeah police officer Rafael Otano guilty of kidnapping
MIAMI - On Tuesday evening, a Miami-Dade jury found ex-Hialeah police officer Rafael Otano guilty of kidnapping, but not guilty of battery of a homeless man.
Otano, 28, is one of two former Hialeah Police Department officers who were accused of beating a homeless man and then trying to cover it up.
The former officer had been in the department for three years before he was terminated from the job.
Otano was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs to the screams of a family member.
He will face sentencing at a later date.
Otano and Lorenzo Orfila, 23, a five-year member of the force, were arrested after they allegedly responded to a nuisance call on Dec. 17, 2022, about a man said to be harassing businesses and patrons at a Hialeah shopping plaza located at W. 19th Street and 60th Avenue.
That man, identified as Jose Ortega Gutierrez, 51, was taken into custody and instead of being transported to the county jail, prosecutors said the young officers took the man to a dump site before beating him and abandoning him.
An off-duty police detective just happened to cross paths in the detective's north Hialeah neighborhood with Gutierrez several hours after the incident and called police.
"He had a cut or laceration on top of his head," said the detective, testifying with a condition that he not be publicly identified. "His face looked swollen and bruised. His clothes looked torn and he appeared intoxicated."
Orfila's trial is set to begin in the coming weeks.