6 S.F. officers indicted over residential hotel searches Grand jury alleges theft of property from occupants in residential hotel

Five veteran San Francisco police officers and a former officer faced federal corruption charges Thursday after a three-year investigation that began when the city's public defender released surveillance videos appearing to show officers abusing and stealing from residential hotel dwellers.

The grand jury indictments allege that after the FBI and San Francisco police launched a probe in March 2011, they learned three of the officers had stolen a batch of seized marijuana two years earlier. One of those officers, Reynaldo Vargas, delivered the pot to a couple of street informants, told them to sell it and then took a split of the proceeds, federal prosecutors said.

The indictments were unsealed Thursday. They represent one of the biggest scandals to hit the police force since the Fajitagate case, which stemmed from a 2002 fight between three off-duty officers and two men over a bag of fajitas and led to allegations of a cover-up - but no criminal convictions.

Three of the officers charged this week face accusations directly related to the residential hotel searches that were brought to light by city Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

Officers Arshad Razzak, 41, Richard Yick, 36, and Raul Eric Elias, 44, all formerly assigned to the Southern Police Station, are accused of conspiring to threaten and intimidate residents of single-room occupancy hotels by entering units without legal justification by using a master key.

Razzak and Yick also are accused of falsifying police incident reports, federal prosecutors said.

Screengrab from the SF Public Defenders YouTube channel, showing footage from the Henry Hotel on Jan 5, 2011. Surveillance video from the Henry Hotel reveals that San Francisco Police Department narcotics officers falsified police reports in order to justify searching residences without warrants or consent. less Screengrab from the SF Public Defenders YouTube channel, showing footage from the Henry Hotel on Jan 5, 2011. Surveillance video from the Henry Hotel reveals that San Francisco Police Department narcotics ... more Photo: Surveillance Video, SF Public Defender's Office Photo: Surveillance Video, SF Public Defender's Office Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close 6 S.F. officers indicted over residential hotel searches 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

'Criminal conspiracies'

Sgt. Ian Furminger, 47, Officer Edmond Robles, 46, and Vargas, 45, of Palm Desert (Riverside County), engaged in "multiple criminal conspiracies," including dealing marijuana, stealing a $500 Apple gift card and other valuables from suspects, and stealing money, drugs and other items that were seized on behalf of the city, their indictment said.

Vargas, who had served 13 years on the force when he was fired in May 2012, used the Apple gift card to buy an iPhone and an iPod Nano at an Apple Store in San Francisco in March 2009, authorities said. They said that transaction happened three weeks before the marijuana deal with the informants.

Elias has been with the department for 12 years, Robles for 22 years, Yick for 13 years and Razzak for 19 years. Furminger, also a 19-year veteran, was charged with extorting property from an individual, but the indictment didn't provide details underlying the charge.

Vargas, who turned himself in after the indictment was unsealed, pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate Thursday afternoon and was released on a $50,000 bond.

The five other defendants are expected to appear in court Friday.

Robles and an attorney for Elias declined to comment. Lawyers for the other three officers did not return messages. Each of the five officers has been suspended without pay.

Officer appealing dismissal

Vargas' lawyer, Harry Stern, said he will examine the charges closely. He said Vargas still has an appeal of his firing pending in the courts and is taking science courses in hopes of becoming a medical technician.

"The government gets to indict by dragging selected witnesses in front of a secret grand jury and asking them leading questions," Stern said.

San Francisco Police Officers Association President Martin Halloran echoed that sentiment in a statement.

"These indictments are apparently based on the questionable testimony of unreliable informant witnesses," he said. "It is important to remember that the accused officers will have their day in court."

At a Hall of Justice news conference, a visibly shaken Police Chief Greg Suhr said, "I don't know that it gets any worse than this, other than an officer-involved serious injury or death, when the public trust is betrayed by a sitting San Francisco or any police officer.

"This is not only a betrayal of the public's trust," he said, "but also a betrayal of all the men and women of the San Francisco Police Department who work hard every day to do what they can to keep San Francisco safe."

Suhr said he will seek the "immediate termination" of any officer found guilty of any of the charges.

At his own news conference, Adachi said more than 100 criminal cases, most of them felonies, were dismissed after the officers' conduct during searches came to light. He said complaints about such abuses had rolled in for years, but "the justice system turned a blind eye."

"It's important for San Franciscans to understand that this is not a situation where these officers were committing mere technicalities, but instead they were actively engaged in criminal conduct," Adachi said. "Violating the constitutional rights, even of someone suspected of a crime, is still a crime."

Leaving rooms with bags

The investigation began after San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who had been police chief until January 2011, referred the matter to federal authorities because of a conflict of interest. In March 2011, Adachi had released surveillance videos from the Henry Hotel in the South of Market neighborhood, asserting that several officers entered rooms without legal cause.

Some of the officers who were indicted have been accused of wrongdoing in the past, including in connection with drug searches. Vargas was part of a team of officers based at the Mission District Station whose conduct in a February 2011 drug-related search of a residential hotel on Julian Street brought FBI scrutiny.

Surveillance video of the officers taken inside the Julian House Hotel appeared to show Vargas walking out of the search target's room with a bag of the person's possessions, which Vargas never checked into evidence. Another officer was filmed walking out with a bag that authorities believe contained the person's laptop computer, which police also never submitted as evidence.

Vargas was also among several officers involved at a drug-related search in December 2010 at another residential hotel, the Jefferson on Eddy Street in the Tenderloin. One of Vargas' colleagues was filmed by a surveillance camera there taking away a bag of undisclosed possessions, which the officers never accounted for.

In 2012, two men and a woman sued Razzak, Elias and Yick in a federal civil rights case, alleging the officers wrongfully arrested them at the Henry Hotel at 106 Sixth St. The suit was settled in November for $125,000.

'Scandalous, outrageous'

This week's indictment accuses Yick of falsifying an official pay slip that purportedly documented a payment to an informant for providing information that led to the arrest of one of the two men.

The men's attorney, John Burris, said Thursday that while the hotel residents were struggling financially, they deserved protection because "their houses are sacred to them." Instead, he said, officers treated them in a way that was "scandalous, outrageous and disrespectful."

Chronicle staff writers Kale Williams, Bob Egelko and Vivian Ho contributed to this report.