NYPD Officer Accused Of Stealing And Selling Guns To Alleged Drug Dealer To Support Habit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An NYPD officer who was supposed to be taking guns off the street was instead stealing them from his colleagues and selling them on the street, prosecutors said.
Officer Nicholas Mina, 31, was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal sale of a firearm, conspiracy and grand larceny.
Mina is accused of stealing police-issued firearms from the lockers of his colleagues at the 9th Precinct station house and selling them.
On Friday, the three-year NYPD veteran sat in court and listened as prosecutors called him a gun runner and drug addict, CBS 2's Sean Hennessey reported. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said phone records and wiretaps linked Mina with 24-year-old Ivan Chavez, an accused drug dealer and gun trafficker.
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Prosecutors said there is a confession from Mina, who is now suspended from the force, in which he claims he had a drug habit and owed Chavez, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported.
Mina kept his head down in court as he and Chavez and three of his associates were arraigned. Only one of the suspected drug runners had bail set, in this case at $150,000, while the rest were locked back up.
An additional suspect remains at large, police said.
A raid on Chavez's house in Queens turned up a massive stash of drugs, guns, $61,000 in counterfeit cash and one bullet proof vest, which prosecutors said was taken from the 9 Precinct station house.
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Prosecutors said the guns allegedly stolen by Mina ended up in the hands of undercover investigators, who bought them from Chavez and his associates on the street with the serial numbers scraped off. Police-issued ammo in those guns led police to suspect what restoring those numbers confirmed.
Mina's lawyer had nothing to say after court, but in court, he spoke of the officer's unblemished record. Prosecutors said he was getting drugs from Chavez every day, using some and then selling the rest.
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