FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former Broward Sheriff's Office detective convicted of evidence tampering broke down in tears Monday as a judge dropped all charges against him.
Anthony Costanzo was arrested in May 2012. He was accused of interfering with the cases against two Fort Lauderdale police detectives, Billy Koepke and Brian Dodge.
Koepke and Dodge are accused of pulling people over and searching for money and drugs. Many of their victims came forward.
Costanzo was arrested in 2012 after he recorded a conversation with one of the victims on his cellphone, later sending the recording to Koepke's cellphone and emailing it to a lawyer involved in the case.
"I'll fall back on what my attorney said earlier to the public and in the media, that this was a political prosecution," Costanzo told Local 10 News. "That's what I get for doing the right thing."
The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed Costanzo's conviction in December, citing that Costanzo never tried to alter or destroy evidence.
"As we know from videos that have gone viral, texting or e-mailing a video is the antithesis of trying to destroy it," the opinion reads.
"I have the Police Benevolent Association behind me and from here we'll figure it out," Constanzo said.
As for Koepke and Dodge, their trial begins in April.
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