Boston gang-unit officer charged with lying to FBI
By Milton J. Valencia GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 24, 2014
A former Boston police officer assigned to a Youth Violence Strike Force was charged in federal court Thursday with making false statements to an FBI agent investigating a violent street gang in Roxbury.
Mel Steele, 36, faces one count of lying to the FBI during the course of a federal investigation.
Steele recently resigned from the department.
Boston Police Department spokesman David Estrada said the charges stem from an internal investigation that was conducted by the Boston Police anticorruption unit along with the FBI.
He said Steele resigned effective Oct. 17, but he would not comment further.
Steele’s attorney, Rudolph Miller, could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
According to court records, Steele was charged in relation to an investigation into a violent drug-dealing gang based at the Academy Homes housing development in Roxbury.
Authorities said that Steele, who was assigned to the Youth Violence Strike Force, the Police Department’s gang unit, was a longtime friend of an associate of the Roxbury gang.
Steele is accused of providing internal police information to the associate while Boston police and the FBI were investigating the gang from 2009 to 2011.
On one occasion, authorities said, Steele used his Boston police computer to run a license plate check on a vehicle. The vehicle turned out to be an unmarked Boston police car driven by a detective conducting surveillance on the gang.
Steele also allegedly contacted a State Police trooper to seek information about a gang member’s pending charges in another criminal case.
FULL GLOBE STORY HERE:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/23/boston-gang-unit-officer-charged-with-lying-fbi/dJyKhPysKnVd2nqTKjZ8NN/story.html
Ex-gang cop expected to plead guilty Dec. 1
Friday, November 7, 2014 By: O’Ryan Johnson
STORY FROM BOSTON HERALD:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/11/ex_gang_cop_expected_to_plead_guilty_dec_1