A Florida police officer made an arrest. Over a month later, she turned herself in.
A West Palm Beach police officer found herself at the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday night.
But Officer Nicole Marie Palladino wasn’t there to drop off a suspect.
Rather, she is the suspect.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Palladino stole a little over $1,000 in cash from a suspect she had arrested after finding him asleep in his car in the Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and Interstate 95 area on Oct. 7.
Palladino arrested Timothy Saintil after she smelled marijuana in his car, according to CBS12 News. Two fellow officers arrived on the scene and said they found $1,003 in cash in his pockets, along with a bag of marijuana, a bottle containing ecstasy pills, heroin and a loaded handgun inside the car.
Officers say Palladino, 30, turned off her department-issued body camera and counted money confiscated from Saintil and then turned it back on and counted out a figure of $48.
Saintil complained that when he was arrested he had more money on him than just $48.
A day later, officers searched Palladino’s police car and found $1,003 stashed inside it, along with seven ecstasy pills that are not believed to be related to Saintil’s arrest, ABC’s WPBF 25 reported.
On Thursday, Palladino turned herself in at West Palm Beach County Jail.
According to her booking record, she’s charged with larceny-grand theft, falsifying an official document and fraud, and possession of drugs without a prescription. Her bond on the three charges was $15,000 in total.
She bonded out of jail Thursday afternoon, the Sun Sentinel reported. Her booking photo was not released.
West Palm Police Department Sgt. David Lefont released a statement obtained by CBS12:
“The West Palm Beach Police Department holds its employees to the highest professional standards. We never take the public’s trust for granted. Hence, when we learned of the potential breach of public trust, it was immediately investigated, determined to be criminal in nature, and criminal charges were filed against Palladino.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2018 at 1:10 PM.
