TWO FT. LAUDERDALE POLICE OFFICERS ARRESTED FOR SERIOUS MISCONDUCT

Two Ft. Lauderdale police department detectives have been arrested and charged with nearly twenty counts of racketeering, kidnapping, grand theft, extortion and official misconduct.

A spokesman for the Broward County State Attorney said that Detectives Brian Dodge and Billy Koepke “were involved in an ongoing pattern of criminal conduct that focused on stealing money and pills from patrons of pain clinics.”  Their arrests were the culmination of a long-term investigation by the FBI and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the detectives “came under scrutiny after a hotel security video was found that contradicted their versions of two arrests they made at a Red Roof Inn.”  The investigation reportedly “turned up evidence that Koepke and Dodge claimed they found crack cocaine on a man who had none and stole several thousand dollars that should have been turned over as evidence.”

The Sun Sentinel also reported that Dodge had been suspended from the police force without pay in 2006 after an allegation was sustained that he used his position on several occasions between October 2004 and March 2006 to “fix” parking citations that had been issued to a friend.