State prosecutor: Hialeah cops charged with kidnapping, battery, ‘betrayed the badge’

A Hialeah police officer on trial for the beating and kidnapping of a troublesome vagrant never patted him down, handcuffed, or even touched him, his attorney said Monday during opening statements of a high-profile case that could send the young officer to prison for life.

And the GPS that recorded the movement of former police officer Rafael Otano’s patrol car was so riddled with errors, it showed the car stopped when it was moving and at different locations than where it actually was, said Attorney Michael Pizzi.

“We believe when you reach the end of the case you will ask yourself, why is this young man in the courtroom and what is he doing here?” said the attorney.

Assistant Miami-Dade State Attorney Shawn Abuhoff — while admitting the alleged victim was a “nuisance” and a “problem’ — said evidence will show that Otano and another Hialeah police officer named Lorenzo Orfila drove Jose Ortega Gutierrez more than six miles to an illegal dump site outside of city limits, where they beat him and left him to fend for himself. Gutierrez had allegedly been told he was being arrested for being drunk and disorderly. The state hopes to convince jurors through GPS data, surveillance footage and witness testimony.

“They betrayed the victim. They betrayed the badge. And they betrayed the community,” Abuhoff told jurors.

Otano, 27, is on trial for an incident on Dec. 17 in which Miami-Dade state prosecutors say he and Orfila hauled Gutierrez away from a Hialeah strip mall at West 19th Street and 60th Avenue after becoming unruly and bothersome at a a bakery as customers were having breakfast. During their interaction with Gutierrez, the officers never activated their body worn cameras.

At one point during his opening statement Abuhoff told jurors though he couldn’t prove Otano battered Gutierrez, he can prove he was there - which makes him guilty through acquiescence. He said both former officers didn’t use their police radios as Gutierrez was being transported - on purpose, to keep their movements hidden.

Miami-Dade Police Officer Carl Henry Narcisse, who lives near the wooded area where Gutierrez was allegedly beaten, found him wandering aimlessly after the incident and asked him what happened. On the witness stand Monday, Narcisse said when he found Gutierrez, he had a cut on his head, a swollen face and appeared drunk and that he said Hialeah Police officers did this to him.

“He said he was robbed, mugged and dropped off,” Narcisse said.

Under questioning from Otano’s attorney, Narcisse said Gutierrez told him he was mugged by a tall blond cop and never identified Otano as any of the men who allegedly beat him up. Otano isn’t particularly tall and has short, dark hair.

Though only Otano is currently on trial, both he and Orfila, 23, have been accused of battery and armed kidnapping, charges that could send them to prison for life. Both were also fired from Hialeah Police. Orfila’s trial date has not yet been set.

Also charged in the case is investigator Ali Amin Saleh, who the state has accused of witness tampering for allegedly trying to pay Gutierrez off in exchange for signing an affidavit that would clear the two former cops. Notary Juan Prietocofino agreed to five years probation after being charged fraudulently notarizing that affidavit. Gutierrez is expected to testify in a trial that could take a week or more.