FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Broward County jury convicted an Aventura police officer of multiple felony charges on Tuesday over a May incident where he was accused of pulling a gun on and illegally detaining a pair of men after his wife mistakenly left her cellphone in their car, according to prosecutors.
Jurors found Officer David Esteban Delgado guilty of two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of false imprisonment; both charges are felonies. He was also convicted of misdemeanor battery, prosecutors said.
Recommended Videos
Records show previous charges of kidnapping and using a firearm in the commission of a felony were dropped sometime after his arrest in June.
In a news release, a spokesperson for the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said Delgado “took the law into his own hands” after his wife, Daniela Rendon, accidentally left her cellphone in the victims’ car on May 20 while working as a valet at the Aventura Mall.
They told investigators they communicated with Rendon that they would return the phone after performing at a festival at Bayfront Park later that day.
According to an affidavit, they told BSO investigators that there was confusion about where to meet Rendon, so they decided to meet to return the phone the following day.
“According to the evidence and testimony in trial, Delgado tracked the phone, drove at high speed from Miami to Broward, and showed up in uniform in his marked Aventura Police Department vehicle at their location in Pompano Beach,” the SAO’s news release states. “The victims said he pointed his gun at them, detained them, pushed one of the men against the police cruiser and handcuffed him.”
Prosecutors said the victims “explained that they had been communicating with the woman about safely returning the phone and handed it over immediately.”
“Our job is to pursue justice and hold offenders accountable whether they wear a badge or not,” Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in the release. “Nobody is above the law.”
According to Pryor’s office, Delgado, who’s scheduled to be sentenced in 2024, faces up to 21 years in prison, but, under current sentencing guidelines, he’ll likely get between three and four years behind bars.
Delgado’s attorney, in a statement to Local 10 News Tuesday evening, pledged to continue the legal fight.
“We expect to file a timely motion for a new trial because of prejudicial errors made during the trial and an eventual appeal, if necessary,” attorney Johnny L. McCray said.
Editor’s note: In previous articles, Local 10 News reported that Rendon was Delgado’s girlfriend. Marriage records show that she is his wife.