This cop lied about the details of a marijuana arrest, failed to report how he tormented a suspect with his Taser, and claimed a three-hour lunch break lasted only one. After 16 months of paid leave, they finally agreed to let him return to duty. It was a video-recorded massage β and its happy ending β that finally cost him his job. The officer was caught in a sex act at the hands of a masseuse. Video obtained last week by the Sun Sentinel shows a man, features obscured, face down and naked on a massage table, a woman straddling his back.
Her hand slips between his upper thighs, he reaches back and caresses her legs. The lights are dimmed when the man flips over, but the officer later admitted to police it was him, and that the masseuse masturbated him, according to internal affairs documents. Yacobellis, 40, spent another three months on paid leave while the prostitution case was under investigation.
Charged with purchasing the services of a prostitute, he bypassed a criminal conviction by agreeing to attend a special program, but the incident ended his career with the Coconut Creek Police Department. The year veteran is fighting the termination.
An arbitration hearing has been scheduled for May. Investigators watched the massage as it occurred. Afterward, an officer pulled Yacobellis over for a traffic stop to confirm his identity. He was one of about a dozen men stopped leaving the business between June 2 and 4. By the time the minute interview had wrapped up, Yacobellis conceded that he did not ask for the sex act but did not try to stop it either.
Yacobellis had returned to duty Feb. Prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges, citing the unlikelihood of proving a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. But his department concluded Yacobellis violated policy and meted out a two-week unpaid suspension.
