Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

We've got a trifecta of dirty NYPD cops this week, as well as snakepit full of crooked jail guards down in Florida, another one in St. Louis, and a pill-peddling court officer in Massachusetts. Let's get to it:

In New York City, an NYPD narcotics detective was arrested Tuesday for forcing the girlfriend of a drug suspect to have sex with him in a police station bathroom by threatening to lock her up. Detective Oscar Sandino, a 13-year veteran, allegedly arrested a drug suspect in Queens in 2008 and ordered the suspect's girlfriend to take off her clothes at the residence. Once at the station house, he told her she would be jailed and would lose custody of her children, but that he "would prevent those things from happening if she had sex with him.'' She complied, but reported him upon her release the next day. He is also accused of extorting sexual favors from two other women. He is charged with three misdemeanor counts of violating the civil rights of the three women. He is looking at up to three years in prison.

In New York City, a former NYPD officer pleaded guilty May 13 to robbing drug dealers at gunpoint and restraining them with his police handcuffs. Jorge Arbaje-Diaz, 31, admitted to being part of a crew that ripped-off dealers in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. He even left his post patrolling the transit system to carry out one robbery while in uniform. Arbaje-Diaz resigned from the force after his 2008 arrest. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

In New York City, a fomer NYPD officer was convicted last Friday of conspiring to rob a drug dealer, attempted theft, and unlawful use of a bullet-proof vest, but acquitted of armed robbery charges. Hector Alvarez, 28, and his partner, Officer Miguel Castillo had received a tip that a drug dealer kept loads of cash at his Rutherford, New Jersey, home and decided to shake him down to the tune of half a million dollars. In May 2007, the pair drove to his home and flashed a fake search warrant in a bid to get in, but the dealer refused to let them in and scuffled with them. They left empty-handed, but not before attracting the attention of a neighbor who called police. They were picked up as they headed for the Lincoln tunnel. Castillo, 31, pleaded guilty in December to armed robbery and is now serving a seven-year sentence. Alvarez is looking at five to ten years, but he has already served three awaiting trial.

In West Palm Beach, Florida, 11 state prison guards and five others have pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and conspiracy charges after a two-year state and federal investigation into corruption in Palm Beach County prisons. The defendants were caught in an FBI sting operation in which they were recruited to run loads of what they thought were cocaine out of Miami-Dade County. The guards worked at the Glades Correctional Institution, South Bay Correctional Institution and the Florida Road Prison. Another, parallel probe by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office resulted in the arrests of six more prison guards on charges of bribery, introduction of contraband into a correctional institution and conspiracy.

In St. Louis, a former jail guard was sentenced last Friday to 30 months in prison for smuggling what she thought was heroin for an inmate who was working with authorities. Peggy Lynn O'Neal, 49, had pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of attempting to distribute heroin and admitted accepting money to smuggle it into the jail. O'Neal is one of three guards originally charged in the sting; all have pleaded guilty. One got two years, another awaits sentencing.

In Andover, Massachusetts, a former Massachusetts Trial Court officer was sentenced May 13 to three years in prison on federal drug distribution charges. Eric Bevilacqua, 28, was arrested in October when DEA agents searched his home and found $40,000 in a safe. He admitted selling a thousand 30-milligram oxycodone tablets a week to various customers and pleaded guilty to distributing it in February.