Four former Miami firefighters face charges stemming from a vulgar prank played on a black fellow firefighter nearly two years ago.
The charges were announced by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office on Tuesday. Lt. Alejandro Sese and firefighters Harold Santana, Kevin Meizoso and Justin Rumbaugh were charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief, the Miami Herald reports. Sese also was charged with felony witness tampering for allegedly trying to cover up the incident.
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The charged men were among six firefighters who were fired from the fire department. Their terminations were in connection with a September 2017 that involved the defacing of a colleague's family photos, including drawing penises on and draping a noose over the pictures.
None of the charges, however, stem from the noose, the Herald reports. Investigators have not been able to determine who put the noose on the photo and the motivation behind it.
“Every single one of us thinks of firefighters as heroes,. So this is a very sad reality to see all this boorish, callous, abusive behavior that happened to a member of this special brotherhood," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told the Herald.
