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Sunrise Police Sergeant Arrested On Multiple Charges
Sunrise Police Sergeant Arrested On Multiple Charges-Roger Krege, an 18-year veteran and sergeant with the Sunrise Police Department, was arrested on multiple criminal charges, including racketeering, unlawful copying of an article containing trade secrets, use of confidential criminal justice information, theft and multiple counts of official misconduct, according to the Sunrise Police Department and Broward State Attorney’s Office.
The investigation became public when police executed search warrants suspecting Sgt. Roger Krege of providing the South Florida Sun Sentinel a list of confidential informants used in dozens of drug cases.
A Sun Sentinel investigation called “Cops, Cash and Cocaine,” which outlined how the Sunrise Police Department used confidential informants to lure drug dealers/buyers into the city.
Once the arrests were made, police were able to seize the dealer/buyers’ money and often their vehicles, resulting in huge payouts for the officers working overtime and for the confidential informants.
That article showed the Sun Sentinel obviously knew the location of the police department’s “Vice, Intelligence and Narcotics” unit. That forced Sunrise Police to move the office.
The Sun Sentinel article, however, did not disclose the name of any confidential informant.
The arrest happened on Friday, December 06, 2019.
The Sunrise officer is also accused of stealing a laptop for a family member and tracking a fellow police officer with a tracking device.
A total of ten charges were filed against the officer according to the arrest warrant and other court documents. His bonds total $106,000.00 on those ten charges.
This Sunrise police officer has been investigated by his own department over the past seventeen years more than a few times.
In March 2017, Local 10 News reported that Sargent Krege was issued a written reprimand after being investigated for allegedly grabbing the director of human resources for the city of Sunrise, Carla Gomez, by
the hair saying, that he knew that she liked it rough and told her, “You’re mine.”
In a sworn statement, Carla Gomez said she felt “mortified and threatened.”
The incident was reported last August at a city of Sunrise Employee Appreciation Dinner at the Signature Grand in Davie.
Gomez said Krege had slurred speech, was sweating profusely and could not see straight.
Also, Sunrise police crime scene investigator Severine Smigelski said Krege “shoved” her when she took his keys away that night.
Krege was the focus of an internal affairs investigation after an anonymous letter was sent to the Sunrise police chief raising concerns about Krege’s behavior that night.
Believe it or not, Krege is also president of the Fraternal Order of Police Sunrise Lodge Number 80, which represents Sunrise police officers.
Channel 10 reported that “according to the sworn statements of fellow officers who were at the Signature Grand that night, Krege was heavily intoxicated.”
One officer said Krege was “confrontational and aggressive,” and Smigelski said Krege “had a hard time walking.”
Krege received a written reprimand for “acting unprofessional during a city-sponsored event.”
“With respect to whether or not Sergeant Krege committed a simple battery upon Ms. Gomez and Ms. Smigelski, I find probable cause is lacking to support that Sgt. Krege actually or intentionally touched or struck either of these women or that his intent was to cause bodily harm,” Sunrise Deputy Chief Gerald Eddy wrote in an internal affairs report at the time.
However, according to channel 10 Miami, former Broward prosecutor Ken Padowitz said “There clearly is touching and there is clearly no consent by the victim in this case. There is a battery, If there is anyone who says otherwise, they either don’t know Florida law or they’re trying to cover up a fact that a crime was committed.”
The Sunrise Police Chief at the time, John Brooks, refused to talk to Local 10 News reporter Jeff Weinsier on camera.
“The Sunrise Police Department has completed the internal investigation and the discipline to the officer was appropriate,” Officer Christopher Piper said in an email sent to Local 10 News.
Davie police should have been notified about the incident because the Signature Grand is in the city of Davie.
Local 10 News checked with Davie police, and there is no record that the incident was reported.
Right now, Sergeant Krege is on unpaid leave from the police department and it appears that he has bonded out of jail.
The arrest report says the officer’s actions were disclosed by his ex-wife, who told police “that her husband Roger Krege, had brought the documents home” where it“was recovered from a personal safe located within the officer’s home.”
According to the arrest affidavit, police say several years ago Sergeant Krege took a confidential police department list that “identifies Sunrise Police confidential informant names, assigned CI Numbers, sex, race, activation and deactivation dates reflecting the informant’s use, cities and phone numbers, and their assigned detectives.”
The affidavit, (see PDF above), says the disclosure meant that ”confidential informants and the law enforcement officers working with them have been in grave danger.”
