A former Miami police detective intends to sue the city, saying he has been fired twice, ridiculed by supervisors and harassed by other officers, who have left him threatening notes and even stuck condoms on his car.
The reason, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit notice filed by 24-year veteran Al Matias: He says that he has been treated as a pariah for the better part of a decade for cooperating in a sting operation that sent a dirty cop to prison in a case involving stolen money and cocaine peddling.
“Matias has been railroaded in the city for several years now,” said his attorney, Michael Pizzi. “It’s vindictive and retaliatory nitpicking.”
The latest firing came on Jan. 27 and both terminations, according to his attorney, were related to his role in a 2012 undercover investigation of former Sgt. Raul Iglesias. Working with investigators, Matias had at one point led Iglesias — then his supervisor — to a shoe box filled with money inside a vehicle with a hidden camera.
Iglesias was indicted the following year by the federal government on charges that he violated a suspect’s civil rights, intended to sell cocaine and obstructed justice by making false statements to investigators. After a two- week trail, he was found guilty of several charges including civil rights violations and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He eventually spent four years in prison.
Though Matias didn’t testify during the trial, his partner Luis Valdes, did. Valdes later claimed that both...
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