MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade police officer accused of stealing jewelry from a home while helping the DEA execute a search warrant in May pleaded guilty Tuesday to dealing in stolen property.
Detective Karel Rosario, a nine-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department, was arrested in June after it was discovered that he tried to sell some of the stolen jewelry to a jeweler at the Seybold Jewelry Building in downtown Miami.
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According to the State Attorney's Office, Rosario stole a Cartier watch containing a custom diamond bezel, a gold bracelet with diamonds, a Cartier-style "Nail" bracelet, a Rolex Daytona watch, a Bulgari ring, a Bulgari bracelet, a David Yurman bracelet and several expensive bottles of perfume from the home of Yulia Martinez.
Police said the suspects were buying drugs from patients and reselling them to manufacturers.
After bonding out of jail, Martinez told authorities that she realized the items were missing from her home, and no receipts were left at the residence specifying items that were seized, as is proper police protocol.
According to an SAO report, surveillance video showed Rosario meeting with a jeweler, identified as Joel Hernandez, at the Seybold Jewelry Building in downtown Miami on May 27, and trying to sell him the Cartier watch and bracelet.
Hernandez told Rosario he wasn't interested, but would post photos of the watch on the social media site, WhatsApp so that other jewelers could respond if interested.
The jeweler told authorities that he was contacted by another jeweler, identified as Joel Vigo, who claimed that the watch was purchased from him by Martinez's husband.
"Every police department depends on the integrity and professionalism of its officers," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. "Detective Rosario sold out his integrity the minute he picked up that jewelry. He has let down the good people of Miami-Dade County and every professional police officer who risks death each day to uphold our laws."
Rosario is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22.
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