A former police officer on St. Croix was in U.S. District Court on Thursday following an indictment handed down by a grand jury on Tuesday. It was the fourth indictment this week against current or former officers on St. Croix.
Lawrence Benjamin, who resigned from the force in November after eight years, pleaded not guilty at his advice of rights hearing before Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Resnick on Thursday. Benjamin’s hearing followed that of officer Adrian Williams, who was indicted on a variety of charges with two other officers on Tuesday. Williams also pleaded not guilty.
Thursday’s court action followed that of Wednesday, when Luis Torres and John Hardy were released on $25,000 bail by Resnick. Williams was also released on $25,000 bail. Torres, Hardy and Williams were indicted as a result of an ongoing FBI investigation into 13 charges of civil rights violations, theft and unlawful arrest.
Benjamin, who has a detention hearing set for Friday afternoon, faces eight charges, including attempted murder, civil rights violations, using a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
According to the indictment against the former officer, on Nov. 9, 1999, Benjamin allegedly shot Ray Romero in the leg under the color of the law. Additionally, Benjamin is accused of breaking into a home in order to get 103 pounds of cocaine, which he intended to distribute.
Torres, Williams, both three-year veterans, and Hardy, a six-year veteran, are accused of conspiring to injure, threaten, oppress and intimidate two men on Dec. 4, 1999. Hardy is also charged with filing a false police report in regard to an arrest by the three officers.
Jury selection for all four officers is set for sometime after April 9.
The current spate of indictments follows convictions of three St. Croix officers on a variety of charges last July, including civil rights violations, assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a handgun, and oppression. Ronald Pickard, Dean Bates and Renaldo Philbert are in a federal prison on Puerto Rico awaiting sentencing for incidents that occurred between Jan. 1, 1995 and Oct. 31, 1999. The civil rights violations carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison while the handgun violations carry five-year sentences.
A fourth officer, Victor Suarez, was also accused of a number of crimes, but was freed after the jury couldn’t agree on three of the counts levied against him and found him not guilty on the others. He has since resigned from the force.
