An NYPD cop was arrested for perjury after footage from his own body-worn camera showed he had planted evidence and lied on the stand in a gun case, Queens prosecutors said Wednesday.
Officer Miguel Vanbrakle is accused of tampering with physical evidence and lying under oath after arresting Shiloh Brown on gun possession charges following the execution of a search warrant inside the home of Brown’s fiancee on Oct. 19, 2023, officials said.
Criminal charges against Brown were dismissed after it was revealed that Vanbrakle, 48, placed a benefit card belonging to Brown found elsewhere in the house next to a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver found in a locked safe underneath a bed in the fiancee’s home in Cambria Heights.
Vanbrakle arrested Brown for weapon possession, later testifying to a grand jury that he found the benefit card in the locked safe with the gun.
Brown’s fiancee told cops her grandfather owned the gun, not Brown, officials said. DNA tests conducted later indicated Brown had never handled the weapon.
A review of footage from Vanbrakle’s bodycam showed the officer planted evidence, prosectuors charge. The camera recorded him finding the benefit card in a shoebox in the living room and placing it next to the revolver once the safe was opened in a back bedroom, prosecutors said.
“As alleged, this officer was sworn to uphold the law and instead planted evidence in a gun possession case, perjured himself and lied on official documents,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “As a result of the defendant’s alleged actions, an individual had felony gun charges pending against him for more than a year.”
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau first investigated the allegations against Vanbrakle and referred the case to the Queens DA for prosecution, a department spokesman said. Vanbrakle was suspended without pay when he was arrested.
The officer is a 12-year veteran of the department. Over the years he’s made 128 felony arrests and 127 misdemeanor arrests, according to his department profile. He lives in the Belle Harbor section of the Rockaways, according to the D.A.’s office.
All charges against Brown were dismissed on Dec. 6, 2024, but he remained under prosecution for more than 400 days before Vanbrakle’s alleged crimes were discovered, according to his attorney Alex Klein of Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco, who is suing the city for false arrest.
“Being a police officer is a tough job. It’s why the vast majority of police officers deserve such respect,” Klein told the Daily News Wednesday. “But being a police officer is also unusual because of the damage they can cause.”
“You higher the wrong painter you might have to add another coat of paint,” he added. “You come across the wrong cop and your life can be destroyed. We need to make sure we’re hiring and keeping the right people. In those cases that the wrong people are in uniform and we find them engaging in egregious behaviors, the stiffest of penalties need to be imposed.”
“We look forward to pushing the case forward aggressively,” Klein said of the civil suit.
