Tonight, Belize City resident Shaquawn Almendarez continues to be aggrieved by a police search which he says amounts to police harassment. Now, if his name sounds familiar, it's because he and his family made the news 2 weeks ago after the K-9 unit and the South Side Strike Team found 8 ounces of marijuana in their Electric Avenue home.
Since then, he says he has had visits from the Anti-Drug Unit, which he says were oppressive and demeaning. He visited our office last week Wednesday to say that the search happened earlier that day.
He narrated the experience:
Shaquawn Almendarez, Claims Police Harrassment
"This morning they came at my yard and they put cuff on me again and they came last week Tuesday and charged all of us for drug trafficking that they planted on us. They put the cuff one me and took me in my neighbor's yard and beat me with a shovel. They went and came back to my yard and continue to dig. They got a call that said there was a home invasion. Four police men came. They left for me and the other 2 went. I went into my house to use the bathroom. They went after me and broke down my door, pull me out and started to kick me and bring me back down stairs and they held me until the mobile came back."
"The mobile came after an hour and during that time they continue digging. I am tired of this."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"What did they say they want from you? What were they looking for?"
Shaquawn Almendarez, Claims Police Harassment
"They say they want a gun. Somebody told them I have a gun. I don't know who gave them that information. If they say I have a gun, then search me in my yard, don't take me to another yard and dig up with shovel and have in hot sun kneeling down, having my mom crying with my nephews. My big sister was videoing it."
"They had charged me last Tuesday."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"You had your brush with the law and you were trying to move on. What exactly happened? You said you had spent 3 years."
Shaquawn Almendarez, Claims Police Harassment
"Yes, in 2013, they came and did the same thing; they came, plant weed on me, want me to give them a gun, they want money. Nothing is going on with me. Then they charged me and I went to court, they gave me a quick trial and I got 3 years and I went to jail. I just came out of jail and the same thing is happening again."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"They must have a reason. They must have some actionable intelligence that are going on?"
Shaquawn Almendarez, Claims Police Harassment
"I don't know. If I had that why did they took me in another yard to search me? Why don't they deal with me in my yard and what you find you deal with me and charged me."
The cops say that they found the drugs in 2 black plastic bags, which were hidden in the shrubs behind the house. Shaquawn, and his other family members, Tash, Karen and Darnell Almendarez have been charged with drug trafficking, along with Trecia Benguche and a 16 year-old minor.
Our archives say that he has served 4 years in jail for drug trafficking. He was busted with 5.4 ounces of weed in December 2012, right at his Electric Avenue Home.
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