“He was a very good cop, very well rated, who could have become commissioner”. His lawyer, Jean-Philippe Broyart, is struggling to understand how the fate of Stephen D., police captain in Lille, could have changed. The man, 40 years old at the time of the facts, appears, in fact, on Wednesday, before the criminal court of Lille, for aggravated theft and money laundering, in the company of his father, suspected of complicity.
In May 2013, it was an unusual case that landed with the public prosecutor of Lille. For two years, an investigation has been opened with the IGPN (the police force) against an officer suspected of stealing valuables from deceased persons.
Suspected of thirty thefts
Taking advantage of his function as head of an investigation service, Stephen D. has easy access to housing under seal where, often, there has been a death. One day, the Lille police station receives a letter from someone noting the disappearance of two computers from his father’s home. However, the latter’s death had been the subject of a police investigation.
Another time, it is the son of another victim who discovers the sale, on the online commerce site eBay, of the computer (another) of his recently deceased father. When they do research on the computer address of the seller, the investigators go back to Stephen D.. The latter is finally spotted for around thirty suspicious sales of objects on the internet, between 2009 and 2012.
The respondent did not seem to take any precautions to resell his loot. Computers, IT equipment, GPS, mobile phones, cameras, branded scarves, bearer vouchers… Everything was found on eBay. Even gold coins which he denies having stolen. “He recognized all the facts, except for the gold coins he says he received as an inheritance”, assures Me Broyart.
Disbarred from the police
“A year before his indictment, he had been questioned by the IGPN. However, he left all the evidence lying around at home: USB keys with the photo of the deceased, in particular. As if he knew he would be caught, ”explains his lawyer who presents him as “someone with rights” when he met him on the benches of the university.
Placed in police custody in May 2013, the officer had denied before admitting the facts before the investigating judge. At the time, he had escaped the pre-trial detention demanded by the public prosecutor, but found himself placed under judicial control.
He has since been discharged from the police force and found work. “What’s the point of sending him to prison?” “, pleads Me Broyart who hopes for a flexible detention sentence of less than a year and damages for the families of the victims.
“He deceived everyone”
Damages, his ex-wife, also a police officer in Lille, will also claim some, but in a later trial. “I have to wait for the outcome of this criminal trial to be able to seek civil reparations,” she explains to 20 minutes.
Because for her too, life changed on the day of the indictment. “He fooled everyone. Including me. And since we were married and he declared himself insolvent, I lost part of the property without being able to bring a civil action,” she explains. A collateral victim.