It took a lot of people to put Ramon Guzman behind bars for crimes he didn’t commit.

First a Newark police detective arrested him on theft charges after he signed confessions in English, a language Guzman said he can’t read. At least three other officers either signed or reviewed paperwork for the arrest. Then a prosecutor presented the case to a grand jury, indicting Guzman. His first public defender told him to take a plea.

At any point, a records check would have shown Guzman was in jail for overdue fines when most of the thefts occurred. But that check apparently never took place.

So Guzman sat in jail for 10 months — from December 2005 to October 2006 — awaiting trial on crimes it was impossible for him to have committed.

Legal filings paint a picture of a Peruvian immigrant lost in the American judicial system after being steamrollered by police eager to close difficult-to-solve theft cases. Testimony from outside experts and officers raise doubts about police training and supervision, and the case shows how bad decisions by police can leave Newark taxpayers on the hook.

A civil-rights lawsuit filed by Guzman in Superior Court of Essex County was settled Wednesday for $300,000, abruptly ending a three-week-long jury trial with one of the largest settlements for allegations of police misconduct in Newark in recent years.

"There’s really no amount of money that would have compensated Ramon," said Guzman’s lawyer, Edward Rebenack. "It was more important to him to expose what the Newark police did to him."

Despite the six-figures agreement, Newark and the officers involved have not admitted any wrongdoing. All the officers have maintained that Guzman walked into the police precinct, claimed to have a crack problem and knowingly confessed to the crimes. Defense lawyers also contend a signed confession constitutes probable cause for an arrest, even if it later became clear Guzman couldn’t have committed the crimes.

"He told me what he did," testified Det. Douglas Marshall, who arrested Guzman. "I had no reason not to believe him. I was doing my job."

Guzman sued Marshall for false arrest and sued Newark for failing to properly train its officers. Three other officers were also named in the lawsuit. Marshall’s lawyer said the suit was settled because Guzman’s case was sputtering. But Rebenack said Newark’s settlement offer rose throughout the trial, from $75,000 to $300,000. A Newark spokeswoman said the settlement, which still needs City Council approval, helps "limit any potential exposure."

Newark Police spokesman Detective Todd McClendon said internal affairs has launched a review of the entire incident.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Flavio Komuves said Guzman’s case is a cautionary tale about language barriers, internal accountability and aggressive policing.

"The present administration can learn from both their own mistakes and the mistakes of the past," he said. "If they fail to learn, it would be a real shame for the citizens of Newark and the taxpayers."

A FATEFUL AFTERNOON

On Dec. 27, 2005, Det. Douglas Marshall was in the detective bureau of Newark’s Fifth Precinct. That afternoon Ramon Guzman walked in with a wallet. What happened next is fiercely contested and the subject of hundreds of pages of litigation and sworn testimony.

A look at police records appears to show a successful day for Marshall, a newly minted detective who had been struggling to solve a rash of vehicle break-ins around the city’s crime-ridden South Ward. Marshall said he didn’t receive additional training when promoted to detective, and such crimes are notoriously difficult to close because they often lack witnesses and physical evidence.

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According to Marshall’s reports from that day, Guzman was at the precinct to turn himself in for stealing a wallet.

Guzman said he committed crimes to feed his crack addiction and confessed to breaking into cars, the report said.

Guzman eventually signed eight confessions, allowing Marshall to, in one fell swoop, clear one-fifth of the approximately 50 theft-from-auto cases assigned to him.

Marshall testified everything was explained to Guzman, including the Miranda warnings he also signed.

"He appeared to be reading," he testified. "I wouldn’t have anyone sign a confession that couldn’t read it."

He said checking Guzman’s jail records wasn’t his job, adding, "I had no reason to believe he didn’t do it."

Guzman, who speaks with a heavy accent, tells the story very differently. He said he went to the precinct to turn in a wallet he found on a train. Because there was a credit card in the wallet, Marshall asked him to sign some paperwork to protect himself in case there were unauthorized charges on the card, Guzman said.

Marshall pulled out a stack of papers and showed a sheet to Guzman, asking if he recognized it.

"I said I don’t know what this is, and gave it back to him," Guzman testified. Then Marshall started typing on his computer and handing sheets of paper to Guzman.

"He just put it right down and pointed, sign here, sign here and sign here," Guzman testified.

He admitted he never told Marshall he couldn’t read English, but said he trusted him.

"It never crossed my mind he wouldn’t do the right thing," he testified. "You know what my mistake was? To trust a police officer."

When he finished signing the paperwork, Guzman said, Marshall handcuffed him. Much to Guzman’s surprise, he was under arrest.

DETAILED CONFESSIONS

Guzman, 45, immigrated to the United States from Peru in 1989. A former sergeant in the Peruvian army, he planned to attend college but ended up working blue-collar jobs. Now he installs insulation in chemical plants and lives with his sister in Perth Amboy.

Today, everyone agrees Guzman didn’t steal from those cars. Weeks before he walked into the Fifth Precinct, he was arrested for unpaid motor vehicle fines and a warrant for failing to appear in court, then was shuttled from jail to jail from Dec. 8 to Dec. 21. Seven of the thefts he was indicted for occurred in that time period.

So why are the confessions he signed so detailed, if he couldn’t have possibly known the specifics of the crimes before meeting Marshall?

According to the detective’s reports, Guzman admitted to stealing $200 from a Pontiac, 25 bottles of baby formula from an Infiniti and clothes from a BMW, plus other similar heists. Rebenack pointed out that each confession neatly mirrored the incident reports and said Marshall simply fabricated Guzman’s statements.

Brandon Broderick, Marshall’s lawyer, said Guzman is lying about not reading English. Guzman picked up details from the incident reports while reviewing them with Marshall, then confessed to those details, Broderick said. He said it’s hard to believe Guzman signed or initialed his name dozens of times without knowing what he was doing.

Others have cast doubt on Marshall’s investigation. Newark Police Capt. Richard Cuccolo, a former police academy director who testified during the trial, said officers should independently verify confessions. In addition, he said Spanish Miranda warnings — something Marshall said was never mentioned in training — should be used if there’s the "slightest concern" a suspect isn’t comfortable with English.

James Williams, a consultant and former police officer hired by Rebenack to evaluate the case, said Marshall ignored accepted police practices in investigating Guzman. He also blamed supervisors who are responsible for reviewing detectives’ reports.

"Any well-trained, reasonable and prudent-thinking police supervisor should have and would have discovered the inappropriate actions of Detective Marshall," he wrote in a report submitted in court.

Another expert brought by Rebenack, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital physician Noel Ilogu, doubts Guzman had a crack problem. Ilogu evaluated medical examinations conducted when Guzman was jailed, and said "the physical findings did not substantiate a state of dependence on crack cocaine."

The ACLU in New Jersey, which last month petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Newark Police Department, said a federal monitor would help prevent cases similar to Guzman’s in the future.

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"With an independent monitor, we are confident that heartbreaking stories like Mr. Guzman’s would rarely if ever happen again in Newark, and that officers who abuse the public trust would be appropriately disciplined," said Komuves, the ACLU lawyer. "Until such a monitor is in place, taxpayers must unfortunately brace for more of these cases."

McClendon, the police spokesman, said Guzman’s case shows a training issue that has already been addressed by director Garry McCarthy — not a need for independent oversight.

"A federal monitor would not have prevented this case," he said. "What would prevent this case would be training, which has already been implemented."

McClendon said McCarthy mandated two weeks of training for all investigative detectives when he took over the department in 2006, a year after Guzman’s arrest.

"He can’t really be responsible for what occurred prior to his arrival," he said. "He got here, he recognized the problem and implemented the solution."

10 MONTHS IN JAIL

After his arrest, Guzman spent 10 months waiting for trial in Essex County Jail, which he described as infested with gang activity. He wouldn’t shower without two allies standing guard outside. He said he saw a man shanked to death.

"Twenty-four hours, seven days a week, you’re worried about security," he said. "You don’t know what’s going to happen."

Guzman had the perfect alibi — he was in jail when the thefts occurred — but said no one told him the dates of the crimes he was charged with, so he never realized that those facts could have been grounds for his defense.

He said his first public defender, who could not be reached for comment, told him to accept a plea. Hhe said he never met his second public defender. Finally, his third public defender, who did not return phone messages, researched his case and helped him get released. Assistant Prosecutor Maeghan Hurley asked for the charges to be dismissed without admitting any mistakes in the case.

"The defendant did give statements confessing to these incidents," she wrote. "However, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office after a thorough investigation will be unable to meet its burden of proof in this matter."

Kathy Carter, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, declined to discuss the case in detail except to say, "Once we became aware there was a problem with the case, we moved to dismiss the charges."

Guzman said he only tried to call one family member from jail, saying he was embarrassed by his predicament and didn’t want his frail mother in Peru to find out. Lawyers for Marshall and Newark seized on that fact, saying it shows he could have done more to get released.

"He calls no one for the 10 months he’s in jail," said Avion Benjamin, assistant corporation counsel for Newark. "Wouldn’t you be screaming bloody murder?"

Broderick said Guzman willingly sat in jail for 10 months.

"Some people need three meals and a cot during the winter months," he said. "You don’t stay there unless you want to."

'IT'S UNFORTUNATE'

Marshall’s supervisor at the time of Guzman’s arrest has since been promoted to lieutenant. Marshall is still a detective in the Fifth Precinct.

"From Ramon’s perspective, it’s unfortunate that Detective Marshall was able to violate his civil rights, have the city of Newark pay for his wrongdoing and continue in his same role," Rebeneck said.

Guzman said his experience behind bars derailed his life, and said he’ll teach his son not to trust anybody, even police.

"I don’t trust nobody now," he said. "Nobody."