From: SFGate
By Henry K. Lee 12/18/14
A Richmond police sergeant accused of tipping off drug dealers, exposing an informant and taking bribes has been fired from the department, officials said Thursday.
Sgt. Michael Wang was “separated from the city,” said Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus.
Wang was the subject of an internal investigation into several allegations, including that he had outed police informant Jose Hernandez. Wang has not been charged with a crime.
In a civil lawsuit filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Hernandez said he provided tips involving alleged drug trafficker Jose Vega Robles to police.
According to the suit, Wang told associates of Robles that Hernandez was a police informant and, as a result, Robles shot and wounded Hernandez on Feb. 21, 2005 on Roosevelt Avenue in Richmond. Robles is awaiting trial in the shooting.
Wang’s attorney, Harry Stern, said Friday that the allegations against Wang had no merit.
“I look forward to litigating this case,” Stern said. “It is a fabulous yarn cooked up by two cellmates. Not a shred of proof. A four-year criminal investigation yielded nothing, and the department has a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of evidence.”
