NE Philly man says he was falsely arrested by narc cops

THEODORE CAROBINE told a federal jury yesterday that in 2009, narcotics cops busted into his Northeast Philly home, stole $10,000 for his daughter's college tuition from his garage safe and falsely arrested him on charges of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamines and conspiracy.

Carobine, 56, a plumber, said he spent five weeks in a city prison before his bail was lowered and his brother was able to post it.

The charges against him were eventually dismissed.

It was about 5 p.m. July 21, 2009, when cops burst into his home. Carobine said he was in his first-floor bedroom when his daughter "came in panicked," saying someone was breaking in.

He said he then got a handgun from his bedroom safe and went into the hallway. A plainclothes cop, who just entered, said to him: "Ted, it's the police. Put your gun down," which he did, he said.

In the living room, Carobine said the cops asked him where he had drugs. He said he didn't know what they were talking about.

He identified three of six cops now on trial in federal court, accused of robbing suspected drug dealers, as being in his home that day - Thomas Liciardello, Brian Reynolds and Michael Spicer.

He said there was an older male cop and a female cop there, too, who were watching his wife and daughter when he was taken to his basement, then the adjoining garage, with the other three cops.

In the garage, Carobine said under the cops' orders, he tried to open his safe, but couldn't. Reynolds eventually opened it.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Wzorek, Carobine said he kept his daughter's La Salle University tuition money in the safe because, "I figured if I put it in my bank account, I would spend it."

He said he had $10,000 in the safe, and the cops took it.

He said the cops also took $1,200 he had on him that day, and after he got out of jail, he found missing from his home two of his rings, gun accessories, and his prescription Percocet pills for a work-related injury.

On property receipts, the cops contended they had seized $8,000 from the garage safe, and $669 from Carobine. They also contended they found about 100 grams of alleged powdered methamphetamine in a Ziplock bag and a digital scale, used for weighing drugs, in the house.

Carobine said he did not have the drugs or a digital scale.

He said he was cuffed and placed into an unmarked vehicle with Reynolds and Spicer, and was driven around to a couple of locations before being taken to a police district, then the jail. During the drive, the cops asked if he knew a man named John Goodwin and claimed that Goodwin was back in the business of dealing meth, Carobine said.

Carobine said he knew Goodwin, who had previously been convicted on meth charges. He said at the time, he was doing plumbing work for Goodwin at a house Goodwin had on Frankford Avenue in Kensington, but he said he had no knowledge whether Goodwin was again dealing meth.

The cops also asked him about another man, whom Carobine said was a friend to whom he would give money when asked. He said the man was a drug addict, but his relationship with the man was not drug-related.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Jack McMahon, Reynolds' attorney, questioned the veracity of Carobine's account, including why Carobine would keep his daughter's tuition money in a home safe rather than in a bank account.

"That was all legitimate money?" McMahon asked with disbelief.

"Yes," Carobine said.

"Not from any methamphetamines?" McMahon asked.

"No," Carobine replied.

McMahon showed jurors police paperwork indicating that cops had been watching Carobine on the day before he was arrested and claimed that he had met his friend, the drug addict, that day. Carobine said he didn't recall seeing that man that day, but may have seen him a week earlier.

Carobine also said he may have been in Goodwin's Frankford Avenue house doing plumbing work the day before his arrest.

McMahon contended the police paperwork and Carobine's links to these other two men were evidence that Carobine was involved with methamphetamines. Carobine maintained he was not involved with meth and that he was falsely arrested.