Paterson cop charged with planting drugs on man, falsely arresting him

BY JUSTO BAUTISTA AND RICHARD COWEN
NorthJersey.com
Sep. 19, 2012

PATERSON — A veteran city police officer allegedly conspired to plant drugs on a city man and falsely arrest him after three co-conspirators accused the man of being an FBI informant, U.S. authorities said Monday.

The officer, Mahmoud Rabboh, 43, is accused in a federal complaint with conspiracy to violate civil rights and with deprivation of civil rights under color of law, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement.

Rabboh is a nine-year department veteran who is married with four children. He was suspended without pay following his arrest on Monday and will remain suspended until the case is resolved, said Paterson Public Safety Director Glenn Brown.

[...]In a meeting at the lounge, the informant and other co-conspirators agreed that the informant would plant drugs on the victim. Rabboh also allegedly agreed to arrest the victim and suggested that planting cocaine and Percocet pills instead of marijuana would result in a harsher criminal penalty, according to the complaint.

To make it look real, Rabboh allegedly warned the informant that he might have to rough him up so it wouldn’t be apparent that the informant was involved in the scheme.

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