A former police chief and two officers in Biscayne Park, a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, are being accused of framing four burglaries on a teenager to accomplish a 100 percent burglary clearance rate. Federal prosecutors say the officers lied about the arrests to impress elected officials with crime statistics, The Miami Herald reported.

According to The Herald, federal prosecutors say former Chief Raimundo Atesiano encouraged two officers working under his authority, Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez, to arrest the 16-year-old in June 2013 and orchestrate a plan to frame the teen. They allegedly created false narratives to imply the teen had broken into four unoccupied homes when they were faced with four unsolved burglaries.

"The existence of this fictitious 100 [percent] clearance rate of reported burglaries was used by Atesiano to gain favor with elected officials and concerned citizens," the indictment read in part, The Herald reported.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced that it had indicted Biscayne Park Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano and patrol officers Charlie Dayoub and Raul Fernandez for conspiring to violate a juvenile's civil rights by intentionally making a false arrest. https://t.co/jlv233S0B5

— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) June 12, 2018

On Monday, June 11, the Justice Department announced it had indicted Atesiano, Dayoub and Fernandez for conspiring to violate the 16-year-old's civil rights by intentionally making false arrests, CNN reported. Prosecutors added the officers arrested the teen "knowing that there was no evidence and no lawful basis to support such charges."

The following month after the arrest, Atesiano attended a Biscayne Park City Council meeting to boast about his perfect clearance rates for the small village of Biscayne Park, comprised of just over 3,000 people, CNN reported.

Atesiano abruptly resigned from his position in early 2014, The Herald reported. He reportedly had borrowed thousands of dollars from someone lower in rank and promised – through a written contract – to pay it off through a combination of taxpayer-funded overtime and off-duty work. At the time, Atesiano had reportedly called it a joke, The Herald reported.

The former chief surrendered to authorities on Monday on two charges of conspiring to violate the teen's civil rights. His arraignment will be June 25, and if convicted, Atesiano and the officers face a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, CNN reported.

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