He was charged with exceeding his official powers and defrauding four people against whom he was conducting preparatory proceedings. The offenses were committed at the Bolesławiec County Police Headquarters between February 6 and August 14, 2014.
As established, Robert Ł. as an officer of that police unit was conducting, among other things, four investigations during that period against four different people suspected of driving while intoxicated.
Each time, after initiating an investigation, the police officer issued a decision presenting the charge and then questioned the person concerned as a suspect. He also proposed that if the person admitted to the alleged offense, they could voluntarily submit to punishment without a trial before the court.
All four people questioned by him accepted the proposal. Robert Ł. therefore agreed with each of them on the amount of the fine that they agreed to pay as part of voluntarily submitting to punishment.
After the questioning, Robert Ł. informed the suspects that each of them could give him money, which he would then transfer to the court toward the agreed penalty. Each suspect handed the aforementioned person the requested amount of money. The amounts were: PLN 200, PLN 700, and two payments of PLN 600.
When accepting the funds, the police officer did not draw up a report of the temporary seizure of property or any other document. He also did not issue receipts to the people from whom he accepted the cash. In two cases, he did draw up a report of the temporary seizure of property and gave its copy to the people handing over the money, but... he did not attach the original to the case files.
The money accepted by Ł. was not deposited into the deposit account of the District Court in Bolesławiec. The accused appropriated it.
These circumstances came to light when the District Court in Bolesławiec heard the cases of the four people, accepted their applications for voluntary submission to punishment, and then summoned them to pay the adjudicated fines.
Questioned as a suspect, Robert Ł. did not admit to committing the offenses with which he was charged.
Although the aforementioned person had not previously been convicted by a court, on December 3 of the previous year the District Court in Bolesławiec, in a non-final judgment, found him guilty of committing an identical offense against another person.
Ł. faces up to 10 years in prison.
District Prosecutor Ewa Węglarowicz-Makowska/ii