LANDOVER, Md. (WMAR) — A Prince George's County Police corporal has been indicted and suspended for allegedly demanding money from people he pulled over in exchange for them getting out of a traffic ticket.
Corporal Radames Gonzalez faces 11 charges including extortion, false imprisonment and misconduct in office.
The accusations are related to two separate traffic stops that happened in 2018 in the Temple Hills Area.
Gonzalez was first suspended in November of that year after the police department received a complaint from a citizen who reported he had been stopped by an officer and was forced to pay him cash to avoid a citation.
Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski stripped Gonzalez of his police powers the same day.
An internal affairs investigation was then launched at which point a second citizen came forward with the same allegations.
The case was handed over to the State's Attorney's Office who took the case before a grand jury, who then decided to indict.
“If proven true, the community must know that this department will not tolerate any officer, regardless of rank, betraying the trust of our residents and abusing their police powers. Each of us swears an oath which grants us both extraordinary authority and extraordinary responsibility. I expect all officers to conduct themselves with integrity commensurate to that oath and in the overwhelming majority of cases they do. A small number fail to do so, and there are consequences” said Chief Stawinski.
Gonzalez is a 13 year veteran of the department and is currently suspended without pay.
