The Village of Biscayne Park is on the hunt for a new police chief with the abrupt resignation this week of Chief Luis Cabrera after Village Manager Chris Truitt presented Cabrera with damning accusations.
According to a post by Truitt on the alerts page of the village website, Cabrera used his position and authority to bypass required background check processes to hire officers who would otherwise be denied employment, particularly Benny Lee, Jose Castro and his son Chris Castro.
Truitt went on to explain that Lee, during his past employment with other law enforcement agencies, had 12 internal affairs investigations and had been fired by two other local law enforcement agencies. Chief Cabrera is accused of ordering a Biscayne Park Police Department (BPPD) background investigator to clear Lee for hire without performing a thorough background investigation. Lee has since been terminated for improperly removing personal belongings, narcotics, and firearms from BPPD’s evidence room. Truitt further revealed that a criminal investigation is currently pending regarding Lee’s conduct.
BPPD
Luis Cabrera
Former Biscayne Park Chief of Police
Cabrera also appointed Jose Castro to a volunteer background investigator position he created. The trouble is, Truitt said Castro has a lengthy criminal history including assault and battery, domestic assault, a weapons violation, and instances of impersonating a police officer. Despite these issues in Castro’s background, Truitt said the former chief twice sponsored Castro to the police academy, bypassing the required background checks that would have disqualified him.
Most recently, Castro allegedly identified himself as an off-duty BPPD officer on a 911 call placed while he was working a private security job (not through the village) due to a trespasser being at the singer Shakira’s home. The village said it had body cam footage of Castro holstering his weapon with the subject lying on the ground in front of him as on-duty police arrived.
Chris Castro, Jose’s son, was also hired by Cabrera despite being terminated from another law enforcement agency and having six internal affairs investigations on his record. Chris Castro has since been terminated from BPPD for failure to complete probation due to multiple issues including mishandling of evidence and receiving several complaints from citizens.
Truitt disclosed in his public post that he discovered multiple other issues, including incomplete personnel files, incomplete training documentation, the complete absence of an inventory management system, a failed evidence management system, and multiple accusations of cronyism.
He initially placed Chief Cabrera on administrative leave on Monday, but the situation quickly unraveled when Truitt confronted Cabrera with evidence of his wrongdoing.
It’s been six years since widespread corruption within the BPPD was first uncovered in 2018. Former Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano was found to be the ringleader behind multiple false arrests and was later sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to deprive persons of civil rights.
Notwithstanding this history and the current scandal, Truitt said it does “not in any way reflect on the good men and women of the police department who protect Biscayne Park on a daily basis.”