Judge acquits Hialeah motorcycle cop accused of writing bogus tickets

A judge acquitted a Hialeah police officer who had been accused of writing bogus traffic tickets.

Armando Perez, 42, had been charged in 2021 with multiple counts of official misconduct and falsifying public records.

The acquittal on Monday came two months after Ernesto Arias-Martinez, a second Hialeah officer accused of the same conduct, accepted a plea deal that required only that he give up his law-enforcement credential.

Miami-Dade prosecutors said the scheme to issue sham traffic tickets was exposed when motorists began complaining about citations, even though they had never been pulled over.

The complaints led to a broader audit of the two officers, who were believed to have issued fake tickets to at least nine people in early 2020. One motorist complained he got several tickets but with a made-up name: “Martcello Strovanov.”

Miami-Dade prosecutors agreed to allow Perez to take his case directly to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Tanya Brinkley instead of a jury.

Three motorists and another civilian testified during Monday’s bench trial as did a Hialeah internal-affairs detective.

In issuing her “judgment of acquittal,” Brinkley agreed that the state hadn’t proven that Perez was the one who actually delivered the electronic citations, which did not feature his physical signature.

Defense attorney Michael Grieco suggested

Perez never wrote the tickets and the department had retaliated against him because he was looking to take a job with the state’s alcohol-and-tobacco enforcement agency.

“This was a bogus investigation and arrest of a distinguished motorman who was ascending to state-level police work. I will be working with Officer Perez to resurrect his career starting today,” Grieco said.

“He had the guts to call the investigators’ and prosecutors’ bluff and I’m just happy he now has a second chance at life.”