Three police officers charged with 'shaking down' a Chinese grocer back in May of 2003 are free tonight and could be re-joining the department.
On Friday Magistrate Sharon Fraser threw out the case against Sherlett O'Brien, Randy Sanchez, and Patrick Roches after prosecutors weren't ready to present their case because the police investigators didn't have it ready.
The three police officers were arrested after Jip Lun Chee reported that on May 22nd last year they stormed into his Cemetery Road store, jumped behind the counter, and removed a Belize Bank check book, three boledo books, and a set of keys. Another Chinese grocer reported that the next night the same officers stormed into his Raccoon Street store and stole $679 dollars.
The three officers were originally charged with theft but in January of this year the charges were upgraded to robbery.
With the charges drop, if prosecutors do not re-file, the officers could be taken off interdiction. Typically, when a case fails like this - the alleged offenders are re-arrested - but that's when the offence involves civilians - we'll wait and see what happens in this case.