Jan 12, 2007 8:10 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Boston Police Officer Relieved Of Duty
By Maggie Mulvihill, I-Team Producer
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
A Boston Police officer implicated in an ongoing federal corruption case was relieved of duty by police officials Friday night and escorted out of the the Roxbury station where he has been working, the I-Team has learned.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that Officer Edgardo Rodriguez, 37, was placed on administrative leave at about 6:30 p.m. as an internal investigation continues into allegations he distributed and used steroids.
A female police sergeant followed Rodriguez to his Boston home to collect his department-issued vest, radio and other items, said a police source with knowledge of the developments in the investigation.
Rodriguez is also being probed by federal authorities who in July brought criminal charges against three of the veteran patrol officer's police colleagues for drug-related crimes.
Rodriguez, who could not be reached at his home Friday night, has denied any wrongdoing. He was stripped of his gun in July following the indictments of Officers Nelson Carrasquillo, Carlos A. Pizarro and Roberto E. Pulido in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The trio is charged with protecting cocaine shipments coming into Boston among other crimes. Investigators learned of Rodriguez's alleged steroid use during their 2 1/2 year probe of the other three officers.
The I-Team reported last Friday that Rodriguez had been given a one-week deadline to voluntarily resign from the force or department brass would take further action.
Rodriguez recently switched attorneys and his new lawyer, Philip A. Tracy, did not immediately return a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Boston could not be immediately reached.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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