Ex-Miami cop pleads guilty to shaking down dealers for cocaine and cash
A former Miami police officer accused of shaking down drug dealers for cocaine and cash pleaded guilty to the extortion scheme on Wednesday.
Frenel Cenat, who had worked in the police department’s property room protecting evidence used in criminal investigations, admitted that he used his badge and unmarked police-issued vehicle to stop drug-trafficking suspects in Broward County. His M.O.: stealing cocaine and money from the suspects while threatening to put them in jail.
Cenat, 40, pleaded guilty to extortion and attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it before U.S. District Judge James Cohn in Fort Lauderdale federal court. The extortion offense carries up to 20 years and the cocaine charge up to 10 years.
Cenat’s defense lawyer, Howard Schumacher, worked out the agreement with federal prosecutor Edward Stamm.
Cenat joined the city’s police force in 2008 and had worked in the evidence room for three years before his arrest in November.
The Miami Police Department fired Cenat and called him a “corrupt” police officer.
“The arrest of Officer Cenat is the result of a joint operation focused on identifying corrupt cops, and it’s an example of the repercussions when one of our own betrays their oath of office and tarnishes their badge,” Chief Manuel Morales said in a statement at the time of his arrest.
A criminal complaint, based on a sting operation involving an FBI confidential source who interacted with Cenat, charged him with using his official position to extort criminal suspects under the Hobbs Act and attempting to possess and distribute cocaine.
KEY MEETING IN BROWARD
According to an affidavit, Cenat met with the FBI confidential source and an associate who knew the officer in October 2023 in Broward County. The purpose of the meeting was to arrange for the Miami police officer to target someone whom he believed to be a drug dealer in order to steal $50,000 from him.
At the recorded meeting, Cenat introduced himself as “Frenel” and showed the confidential source his unmarked police-issued vehicle, a black Ford Explorer, and sounded the lights and siren.
Cenat described how “he likes to set up the ‘play’ ” — a scheme to steal drugs and money from suspects while he is off duty outside his regular jurisdiction — and his “preference to do traffic stops after receiving intelligence about a drug transaction,” according to the FBI affidavit.
Cenat said “on duty [Miami police] got computers on and can track you and s--- like that ... you know what I mean ... ping your phone ... what you are doing in this area. You don’t wanna do that s---, bro, while you are on duty’‘ and “if I work down there l will never f--- down there, bro,” according to the affidavit.
During the undercover meeting, Cenat discussed the bills that he was going to pay from his next
“play,” saying: “I just need bread now.”
FBI AGENTS POSE AS DRUG TRAFFICKERS
In early November, the confidential source and associate coordinated the “play” with Cenat through group chats on Signal, setting up a sting where two undercover FBI employees posing as drug traffickers planned to do a deal involving three kilograms of cocaine worth $52,000 at the Stadium Hotel parking lot in Miami Gardens, the affidavit says. Cenat’s role was to stop one of the FBI employees after the transaction and shake him down for the purported drug proceeds.
On the evening of Nov. 3, 2023, the “play” went according to plan. Cenat made the traffic stop and told the FBI employee posing as the driver that his name was “Officer Martez” with the “Miami Police Department, Dade County Narcotics Unit.” He told the undercover employee, who had stashed the $52,000 in $100 bills in a backpack, that he was under investigation for drug-dealing.
“Cenat then gave [the FBI employee] the choice of giving him the backpack or going to jail, and as planned, [the employee] told him to take the backpack,” the affidavit says. “Cenat then left the scene with the backpack of money.”
The entire stop was recorded.
Cenat then agreed to meet with the FBI’s confidential source to give him a cut of the money at a Home Depot in Coral Springs. Cenat handed over $13,000 to the confidential source in a meeting that was recorded, too.
After that payoff, Cenat kept the remaining $39,000 in cash and drove to his home in Boynton Beach.
Days later, Cenat called the confidential source to see about doing another “play,” leading to another FBI sting involving seven kilos of cocaine worth $80,000 at a Fairfield Inn parking lot in Deerfield Beach, according to the affidavit.
This time, when he made the stop in his unmarked police car, Cenat identified himself as “Officer Martez of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit” and told the undercover employee posing as the driver that he was under investigation for drug-dealing. He told him to hand over the drugs and money, which were stashed in a duffel bag.
After the transaction, Cenat met up with the FBI’s confidential source again to make another split of the drug proceeds at a Walmart parking lot in Coral Springs. Cenat was then arrested. This time, both the seven kilos of sham cocaine and
$80,000 in $100 bills were found in the duffel bag inside his police-issued vehicle.