# New Jersey Officer Arrested for Stealing Evidence



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*PAUL BRUBAKER*
_Courtesy of North Jersey Media_

Newark, N.J.-- An Irvington police officer was arrested after a pile of evidence he tucked away in a storage container ended up in the hands of the brother of a Passaic County Sheriff's Department detective, authorities said. 
Frederick T. Southerland, 49, an 18-year veteran of the Irvington Police Department, was apprehended at 11 p.m. Friday while on duty. He was charged with official misconduct and receiving stolen property for his illegal removal of evidence from the department, Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said at a news conference Saturday. 
Southerland is accused of putting 30 envelopes containing narcotics, weapons and police files with defendants' names and case numbers in a storage bin at City Closet Storage on Springfield Avenue in Union. Investigators had not yet determined Southerland's motive on Saturday. 
"It's stupidity on his part to remove files," Dow said. "We don't have any evidence at this time of him trying to sell the drugs or weapons on the streets." 
Because Southerland had not paid his bill for a number of months, the storage facility included the container in a public auction on Tuesday, said Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale. 
The brother of Detective Richard Diaz of Passaic County Sheriff's Department purchased the closed container for $180, Diaz said. 
Passaic County Prosecutor James A. Avigliano said Diaz's brother, who was not identified, bought the container along with two others that day, not knowing the contents. 
"He was engaged in the business of buying items from storage facilities," Avigliano said. "You buy blindly and you can get very lucky and have a Matisse, or you can get stuck with a lot of junk." 
Items are usually resold at flea markets or rummage sales. 
The day after the public auction, Southerland contacted the storage facility's management and said there were guns in the storage bin he needed back, Speziale said. City Closet Storage management told Diaz's brother of Southerland's concern. 
Diaz said his brother became suspicious after he spoke to Southerland because the conversation turned from guns to pornographic movies, DVDs and photographs that were also in the storage bin. 
When Diaz's brother opened the bin on Thursday, he found five handguns  four of which were loaded -- approximately 150 vials of suspected crack cocaine, 10 vials of suspected cocaine, 10 bags of marijuana and $800 in cash, according to the Passaic County Sheriff's Department. Everything was marked as evidence by the Irvington Police Department. 
Diaz was contacted by his brother later on Thursday, and authorities in Passaic and Essex Counties were soon alerted. 
Diaz, posing as his brother, contacted Southerland to arrange a time and place for the police officer to buy the container and contents back. Originally, the two men were to meet at a factory on Union Boulevard in Totowa, where Southerland would have been arrested, Diaz said. 
However, Southerland was scheduled to work Friday night. He was apprehended at the Irvington Police Station. 
If convicted, he faces up 10 years in prison. 
Irvington Police Chief Michael Chase said members of his department were disappointed and "felt violated" by the actions allegedly committed by Southerland, who was already the subject of an internal-affairs investigation. Chase would not comment on that investigation, saying only that it was pending. 
Chase said Southerland had been working as a patrolman for the past year, but was previously assigned as a detective in the department's juvenile and internal-affairs divisions. 
Dow said her office has "no doubt" the objects were placed in the facility by Southerland. 
"What makes this one (case) in particular such a travesty is Irvington citizens have been calling out for safer and better communities, and here we have an officer thwarting the good investigations out on the street by fellow officers," Dow said. 
Irvington, which borders Newark, has one of the highest crime rates in the state and struggles with gang violence. 
Dow said she called for a full inventory of Irvington's evidence room and that her office will examine what they've recovered from the storage unit to see if any investigations were negatively affected. 
Southerland was being held on $100,000 bail at an Essex County corrections facility. He was scheduled to be arraigned next week. 
It was unclear on Saturday if Southerland had an attorney and there were no telephone number listed under his name. 
While Avigliano and Dow said the allegations against Southerland marked a "sad day for law enforcement," Speziale said that Southerland's arrest was a big score for authorities. 
"This is certainly a police hat trick when drugs, guns and a corrupt police officer have been removed from the street," Speziale said. 
The sheriff credited Diaz for leading the power play in his role in apprehending Southerland.










AP Photo/Essex County Sheriffs Department

Irvington Police officer Frederick T. Southerland

_Republished with permission of North Jersey Media._


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