Ex-Minneapolis cop sentenced to prison for violating civil rights, stealing drugs
An ex-cop in Minneapolis has been sentenced to prison for using his position for stealing drugs and violating people's civil rights through illegal searches and seizures.
The U.S. Attorney's Office of Minnesota said Ty Raymond Jindra, 29, was sentenced to 38 months (just over three years) in prison with one year of supervised release.
He was convicted on three counts of acquiring a controlled substance by deception and two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law after a 10-day jury trial in November 2021.
From September 2017 to October 2019, while he was an officer in Minneapolis, Jindra obtained methamphetamine, oxycodone, fentanyl, tramadol and other drugs by conducting unconstitutional searches and seizures, and then didn't report, log or put the drugs into evidence, the attorney's office said.
On some occasions, Jindra would search a person, vehicle or home so he could secretly recover drugs without his partner seeing him. He also did searches that were "beyond what was warranted" in an attempt to recover drugs, according to a release.
According to the Star Tribune, in one instance he stole Tramadol, a synthetic opioid, during a traffic stop for his own use and did not mention he discovered the drugs when he filed his report. In another instance, he separated some oxycodone pills for himself during a traffic stop, hiding the pills in a latex glove. He then submitted a false report claiming all the pills were in evidence.
Jindra was also convicted of illegally searching vehicles during traffic stops in violation of the Fourth Amendment that prohibits unreasonable searches.
Bring Me The News previously reported that Jindra was hired by the department in 2013 and was fired in 2020 after he violated department policies related to searches and seizures.
Jindra was originally charged in November 2020 with an 11-count indictment. He was found not guilty on six of the counts he faced.
