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East Village Cop Accused Of Stealing And Selling NYPD Guns
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 13, 2012
Modified Jul 13, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 13, 2012
Modified Jul 13, 2012
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The NYPD thinks that they've found the guy who was stealing guns, cash, bulletproof vests and an iPad from the 9th Precinct station house in the East Village. And yeah, he's a six-year veteran of the force.
Last night police arrested 31-year-old officer Nicholas Mina and charged him with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal posession of a firearm, criminal sale of a firearm, conspiracy and grand larceny.
The New York Post's sources say that Mina was busted, months after the thefts, when the NYPD Firearms Suppression Unit got wind of illegal gun sales and teamed up with Internal Affairs and the Manhattan DA to look into it. The thefts had actually stopped earlier this year when a sergeant was assigned to guard the locker room at the precinct in April. Mina, who had previously been assigned to guard the precinct's locker room, apparently had been selling the weapons to buyers "unaware that he was a cop."
In addition to the arrest of Mina, police also nabbed his alleged civilian cohorts, "identified by sources as Ivan Chavez, 24; Meryl Lebowitz, 64, and Jennifer Sultan, 38."
This is not at all the first scandal to rock the 9th Precinct in recent years. You'll recall the "rape cops" also worked there. Meanwhile, the guys over on Thee Rant are just getting to this story, so you might want to refresh this page a few times today—we suspect the comments over there could get good.
Tagged
9th precinct
east village
guns
manhattan
nicholas mina
nypd
stolen guns
Garth Johnston
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