HIALEAH GARDENS, FL–
A Hialeah Gardens police officer is facing several charges after he allegedly pawned department-issued guns and used another officer’s credit card without permission.
30-year-old Leonardo Carbo was taken into custody on Oct. 5th following an investigation into the allegations.
Investigators say that they began investigating Carbo after a fellow officer reported several unauthorized charges on his credit card.
The officer says he remembered leaving the card at a restaurant and he asked Carbo to pick it up.
Officials say that instead of Carbo returning the credit card to the officer, he used the card at a restaurant, a gas station, on an Uber, at a Walmart, and a pawn shop.
When authorities stopped by the pawn shop, they learned that Carbo purchased a firearm with the credit card.
The owner of the pawn shop identified Carbo as the person who also previously pawned a Glock pistol and an AR-15 rifle. Authorities later found that both of the guns were issued to Carbo through the police department.
Carbo has since been fired from the police department and is facing several fraud charges:
“Mr. Carbo was terminated immediately after the preliminary fact-finding portion of the investigation furnished probable cause for his arrest. Immediately after his termination he was arrested and charged accordingly,” Medina’s statement read. “We acted swiftly after learning of his actions and proceeded with a criminal and internal affairs investigation, leading to his termination and arrest. We were disappointed of his actions since they do not align with the values or mission of our agency.”