By Scott R. Axelrod
Staten Island Advance, N.Y.
NEW YORK — A former New York City corrections officer will serve 90 days in jail after being convicted of planting a weapon in an inmate’s cell at Rikers Island and then falsifying reports about the incident, according to PIX11.
Dionisio Rosario, 35, was found guilty by a jury of tampering with physical evidence and falsifying business records after placing a sharpened piece of plexiglass in an inmate’s cell, according to court records.
The incident occurred in April 2023 when members of the Department of Correction Emergency Services Unit, including Rosario, were conducting a contraband search inside the Robert N. Davoren Center housing area on Rikers Island, PIX11 reports.
When Rosario entered a detainee’s cell, the detainee asked to be searched after sundown to avoid violating Ramadan, according to court documents. Rosario instead shouted at the detainee to put down the Qur’an he was holding and sprayed him with a chemical agent, authorities said.
According to court documents, Rosario then re-entered the inmate’s cell and planted a 4.5-inch piece of sharpened plexiglass near the sink.
He searched other areas before returning to remove the weapon, court documents say. The incident was captured on video surveillance, including footage from Rosario’s own body camera.
Rosario later gave conflicting accounts, claiming he found the weapon by the sink and also saying it was in the inmate’s hand, according to court documents. He then provided false information in four separate Department of Correction reports, authorities said.
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