An NYPD officer stands indicted on several charges, including perjury and falsifying documents, following accusations that he lied under oath and planted evidence in a gun possession case, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office. Officer Miguel Vanbrakle, tied to an incident involving a wrongful accusation of felony gun charges against an individual, saw his actions contradicted by his own body-worn camera footage, leading to the unfolding of these events.
Details from the District Attorney Melinda Katz’s announcement revealed that Vanbrakle was involved in executing a search warrant at a Cambria Heights residence looking for firearms where he allegedly planted a New York state benefit card with the gun to incriminate the suspect even though the homeowner claimed the firearm was hers, not her fiancée’s, who was the target of the investigation. He testified before a grand jury and in a criminal complaint that he found the card and the gun together in a locked safe, however, the body cam footage showed that he took the card from a shoebox in the living room and planted it with the gun inside the safe.
As a result of the inquiry led by the DA’s office, the gun possession case against the homeowner’s fiancée was dismissed in December 2024, highlighting the serious consequences of the officer’s alleged misconduct. Vanbrakle is charged with perjury in the first degree, two counts each of falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, official misconduct, and making a punishable false written statement, and if convicted he faces up to seven years in prison…