A Hallandale Beach Police officer turned himself in Friday after an internal investigation found that he stole and sold police-grade semiautomatic weapons to a pawnshop.
Chief of Police Sonia Quinones announced that the department had fired officer Yan Kleyman, 33, and that he would face a charge of dealing in stolen property. Kleyman stole the guns from police headquarters.
A probable cause affidavit states that Kleyman conducted 15 separate pawn transactions with department-issued equipment between March 2017 and August 2018. Among the equipment sold was a semiautomatic rifle, semiautomatic pistol and a red-dot laser aim attachment.
A routine equipment audit uncovered the missing weapons, and a subsequent investigation was launched to determine what happened, ABC Action News reports.
Charges were then recommended to the Broward County State Attorney’s Office.
According to Quinones:
“This type of behavior will never be tolerated. Mr. Kleyman’s alleged actions are not reflective of the dedicated men and women of this agency.”
Kleyman was hired by the department in 2011 after being fired from Fort Lauderdale Police in 2009 following a gun-pointing incident involving a fellow officer.
Kleyman’s attorney, Richard Cooper, said in a statement:
“My client suffers from a gambling addiction and takes responsibility for what he did.”
