Florida cop faces jail for EATING evidence documents in court during criminal case to protect informant

Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers executive director Richard Masten ate an anonymous tip sheet instead of agreeing to an order to hand it over

He says he gobbled the paper to avoid revealing the tipster's identity



Crime Stoppers organizations around the country are able to collect tips due to promised anonymity

A Florida police officer faces jail time for eating a piece of paper during a criminal trial.

Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers executive director Richard Masten was ordered Friday to hand an anonymous tip about a drug suspect over to the court but instead gobbled it down – and now he faces up to two weeks in jail for being in contempt of court.

Masten told NBC Miami he snacked on the paper instead of handing it over because doing so would reveal the name of a source. Crime Stoppers organizations around the country are able to collect tips due to promised anonymity.

Snack time: Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers executive director Richard Masten ate a tip sheet instead of handing it over to the court

Back for seconds: He then crumpled up another sheet and ate that one as well

‘We promise the people who give us information to solve murders, serious violent crimes in this community [and] nothing about them or their information would ever be compromised,’ he told the station outside the courtroom.

Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers has received tens of thousands of tips that have led to thousands of arrests since its 1983 inception, the station noted.

‘The case today started creeping into that... it’s not going to happen on my watch and I understood the consequences,’ he added.

The judge ordered him to share the tip in a case where a woman was charged with cocaine possession after her defense attorney asked to see it.

Not on my watch: Masten said outside the courtroom that handing the sheet over would set a dangerous precedent

Delicious: Masten gobbled down a paper similar to this one

The attorney insisted he had no intention of revealing the source’s name.

‘There’s absolutely no information that I am looking for that has to do with the name or the identity of a tipster,’ lawyer Jean-Michel D’Escoubet said.

‘It's only the evidence that would be used in trial against her that the tip provided.’

Masten argued that handing over the tip sheet would set a bad precedent.

‘If you do it in this case, the question comes down the road, well you did it in that case why not this case,’ he said. ‘Well, I’m not going to do it in this case.’

Masten was immediately found in contempt of court and ordered to return this week for sentencing, but he said he’d be ready.