Former Essex sheriff's officer gets 3 years in prison for stealing $70 from crime scene

http://www.nj.com ^ | 05/03/2013 | By Julia Terruso

[redreno]

NEWARK — A former Essex County Sheriff's officer was sentenced today to three years in prison for stealing $70 from an apartment he and his canine partner had been searching for drugs.

George Ruiz, a 12-year veteran of the department, was called to an Irvington apartment building on March 3, 2011, to help execute a search warrant when he took the money, prosecutors say.

[knarf]

SOMEone don’t like Horhay.

[blackdog]

He’s in trouble for thinking small. If he stole a hundred grand, he’d be promoted or running internal affairs.

[ansel12]

This is absolutely wonderful and rare, he was actually treated like the kind of criminal that steals money out of a home, which he was, rather than the usual, which at worst means that they have to look for a new job, (like many of the rest of us do several times in our lives as a pretty normal part of work life and living).

[Born to Conserve]

Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to incarcerate him? Fire him, end his LEO career, etc, but why spend all that money?

Meanwhile violent criminals are set free...

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[uncommonsense]

"Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to incarcerate him? Fire him, end his LEO career, etc, but why spend all that money?"

Exactly my first thought! What good does it do for society, and does it fit the crime ($70!) - unless this is similar to Al Capone who was a murderer. but all they could nail him with is tax evasion.

[dennisw]

Moronic sentence handed down by libs I’ll bet. Getting booted from the force and suffering humiliation is enough. Maybe maybe 3 months in jail and just serve a month

A freak MD in Philadelphia was killing babies for years and no state agency cared even after being tipped off many times. Contrast Gosnell with this man

[layman]

The sentence seems a bit much to me. The judge has a bad attitude .... I’m surprised he didn’t sentence the dog to some hard time while he was at it.

[Sawdring]

You have to set an example for other peace officers. They need to be beyond suspicion.

[Dr. Sivana]

What good does it do for society, and does it fit the crime ($70!)

Those who are entructed to enter crime scenes unsupervised have to be held to a higher standard. If he could take $70 and keep it, he could take evidence, or plant false evidence. The bigger crime was the corruption of his office.

No, I don't know why needlessly shot dogs don't get a similar response.

[Mastador1]

I bet he gets to keep his pension and all of his benefits.

[B4Ranch]

“Ruiz’s attorney, Charles Sciarra asked that the sentence be reduced to six months, noting the many letters sent to the judge on Ruiz’s behalf.

The judge denied that request referencing the mandatory minimum and then as is common, read out the fees, totaling $155, Ruiz will have to pay in accordance with the sentencing.”

[allmendream]

Breach of public trust. This is just what they caught him for. No doubt he stole a lot more than that.

[Calvin Locke]

There's a MA congresscritter's wife that was convicted of laundering ~$7M (iirc) for her indicted brother that's hiding out in the Caribbean, still running an illegal betting internet site.

She got a whole month's home detention.

And yes, the 'rat husband just got re-elected, even though he didn't find it strange for vast sums to be running through his household. That's not to mention objects, like for instance, a helicopter.