WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Former Hialeah Police chief Sergio Velazquez bonded out of jail Tuesday evening.
Velazquez was a man of little words in front of the cameras as he walked into a waiting car.
“No, thank you. Goodbye,” the former top cop said in Spanish.
His exit from jail came hours after he appeared before a judge in bond court.
“These are all first-degree felonies,” said Judge Mindy Glazer on Tuesday.
His wife and attorney appeared alongside him in court. His attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. He asked for his case to be heard by a jury trial.
“Based on what the court has announced, we’ll enter a plea of not guilty to all three counts,” said Richard Diaz, Velazquez’s attorney.
Velazquez stands accused of money laundering, evading registration reports, organized fraud, and grand theft charges.
The 61-year-old was taken to Turner Guilford Correction Center on Monday after prosecutors say he stole potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars from the police department during his tenure from 2012 to 2021 before he was suspended.
The investigation revealed approximately $560,000 had been stolen from between May 2021 and October 2021. During the same time period, investigators discovered Velazquez had deposited over $140,000 into his personal accounts, broken up into 652 deposits.
“We are angered, but further shocked, when the person we are describing was the chief of police of the second largest municipality in Dade County,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “Chiefs of police are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and service.”
“Our investigation revealed that petty cash funds and money seized during criminal investigations were missing,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge John Vecchio.
Officials also state checks totaling $2.8 million were issued to fund special investigations from between 2015 and 2021, leading them to believe this operation could have been occurring for longer. $2.6 million is still unaccounted for.
Furthermore, court records reveal an additional $1 million seized during criminal investigations went missing under his watch. Prosecutors said Velazquez used the cash to pay off his debts and make luxury purchases.
“We expected him to uphold the trust that the public has placed in them. In this case, it revealed that Velazquez himself has violated the trust and integrity expected of him as the police chief,” said Vecchio. “He made purchases of more than $300,000 in Rolex watches, over $11,000 from Cartier, over $6,700 from Louis Vuitton and over $5,000 from Versace.”
His trial is set to begin on Sept. 8.
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