NYC Cop Arrested in Plot to Rob $900K in Hidden Drug Money

NYC Cop Arrested in Plot to Rob $900K in Hidden Drug Money

By U.S. Dept. of Justice , Enforcing and Defending the Law - May 20, 2009

NEW YORK --- Shawn Jenkins, an NYPD officer, was arrested early May 19 in Manhattan on charges of conspiring and attempting to rob an apartment in upper Manhattan to obtain approximately $900,000 that a former occupant of the apartment, a drug dealer who had been arrested and deported, had left behind.

As alleged in the Complaint unsealed on May 13, 2009 in Manhattan federal court: During the course of several telephone calls and meetings between May 5 and May 12, 2009, Jenkins, an NYPD police officer in Manhattan, discussed with a confidential informant ("CI") robbing an apartment located on Broadway in upper Manhattan. Jenkins told the CI that a drug dealer, for whom he used to work as a bodyguard, used to live in the apartment and store money there.

Jenkins further told the CI that the drug dealer had been arrested and deported, and had asked Jenkins to retrieve approximately $900,000 hidden under the floor in a closet in the apartment, where someone else now lived. At a meeting on May 7, 2009, Jenkins and the CI agreed that the CI would pose as a law enforcement officer, knock on the apartment door, serve an official document on the current occupant to gain entry, and then use a stun gun to immobilize the occupant. Jenkins and the CI discussed wearing disguises, including possibly raid jackets or other police clothing, and using handcuffs to secure the occupant. Jenkins also provided the CI with an official NYPD document to use to gain entry into the apartment. On May 12, 2009, Jenkins called the CI and told him he wanted to rob the apartment that night.

According to the current occupant of the apartment, there have been several attempted burglaries of the apartment since April 2008. During a burglary around July 2008, while the current occupant was on vacation, the floorboards of a closet in the apartment were ripped up.

Jenkins, 41, of Manhattan, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce and one count of attempt to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce. If convicted, Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, on each charge.