Miami-Dade police sergeant found guilty of stealing gas for personal car

Sgt. Emil Van Lugo filled up gas canisters for wife's BMW

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. ā€“ A longtime veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department was found guilty Wednesday of stealing county gasoline to fill up his wife's BMW.

Sgt. Emil Van Lugo was arrested May 16, 2015, on charges of organized fraud and petit theft.

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A jury found him guilty of all charges.

"We are deeply disappointed with the verdict," Van Lugo's attorney, David Edelstein, said. "We find ourselves in a difficult climate to try a case where a police officer is accused of a crime and feel that there was plenty of evidence given to the jury consistent with the reason he was filling the canisters."

Edelstein said he plans to file an appeal for his client because of "numerous errors" throughout the trial.

"Including the court not allowing us to provide crucial evidence showing his actions were not unusual, making it look like my client was doing something wrong. We look forward to filling an appeal," Edelstein said.

According to authorities, surveillance video from a county refueling station at 7900 SW 107th Ave. and home surveillance cameras showed Lugo filling up gas cans and then refueling his wife's car at his home.

Miami-Dade police and the Miami-Dade County state attorney's office began investigating Van Lugo after they said computer records tracing the amount of fuel consumed appeared to exceed the miles driven by his police-issued vehicle.

"In convicting Miami-Dade police Sgt. Emil Van Lugo for a series of gasoline thefts from Miami-Dade County, the jury carefully evaluated all of the accumulated evidence and used their common sense to see the blatant truth," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Sadly, Sgt. Van Lugo cared more about cheating the county out of a few dollars to fuel his stable of cars than he did about his oath to uphold the law. I applaud my prosecutors, our Miami-Dade police investigators and our citizens for refusing to allow this individual or anyone to steal the public's money or resources."

At the time of his arrest, Van Lugo had been with the Miami-Dade Police Department for 16 years.


About the Author:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.