A Miami police officer was arrested and relieved of duty Thursday on charges of issuing a false traffic citation to a woman he once dated, the city’s police chief said.
Investigators say it was issued with the intent of grabbing the attention of the officer’s former girlfriend but the scheme seemed unlikely to succeed: The woman was out of the country on active military duty in the Middle East on the date the alleged traffic violation occurred.
“Officer Valerio allegedly used criminal justice resources of a major police department in what may be seen as an attempt to reconnect with a former girlfriend,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a prepared statement. “This is not only beyond normal comprehension, but it is also a violation of the law.”
Even more problematic: The colleague whose password the accused officer used to access the computer to issue the ticket had been on disability for almost three months — and hadn’t issued a a ticket since December of last year.
Zamir Vargas Valerio, 37 and an eight-year veteran, was charged with official misconduct and the illegal use of an electronic device, both felonies. On disability at the time of his arrest, Valerio turned himself in Thursday morning and was relieved of duty. Calls and texts to the president of Miami’s Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Valerio, were not returned. It wasn’t clear if he had hired a personal attorney.
Investigators say he used a colleague’s password to access a computer, then wrote the woman a traffic citation in February for running a stop sign.
Valerio had an earlier run in with the law in 2022. He he was arrested in Broward County on a domestic battery charge, accused of trying to strangle someone. The case was dropped. It wasn’t immediately clear if the alleged victim in that incident is the same woman who was issued the traffic citation by Valerio.
State prosecutors say Valerio’s bizarre caper unraveled quickly. The ticket intended for his former girlfriend was mailed to her home, but her mother opened the mail because the woman was out of the country. After emailing the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Courts and discovering the ticket was valid, the victim contacted Miami Police.
A brief internal affairs investigation ensued.
“Our department initiated this investigation because we hold ourselves to the same standards we ask of our community,” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales. “Transparency, responsibility, and obedience to the rule of law.”
By CHARLES RABIN/Miami Herald
Chuck Rabin, writing news stories for the Miami Herald for the past three decades, covers cops and crime. Before that he covered the halls of government for Miami-Dade and the city of Miami. He’s covered hurricanes, the 2000 presidential election and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting. On a random note: Long before those assignments, Chuck was pepper-sprayed covering the disturbances in Miami the morning Elián Gonzalez was whisked away by federal authorities.
