A disgraced former NYPD officer was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for providing confidential law enforcement information to her boyfriend, who was the head of a deadly gang in the Bronx, prosecutors said.
Gina Mestre previously admitted in December to feeding intel to the gang, the Shooting Boys, about a key witness against them. The members of the gang then used that information to allegedly attack and intimidate the witness, preventing him from cooperating with police further.
The information that was handed over also allowed Mestre's boyfriend, Andrew Done, to avoid arrest while he was wanted for murder. Mestre, 33, told him he was wanted for the murder of a rival gang member. The info gave Done enough time to flee the country in an effort to dodge arrest.
Mestre, of Mohegan Lake, was sentenced on Friday to 70 months behind bars.
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"Mestre betrayed and abused the trust placed in her by the NYPD and the people of New York. She swore to protect the public from criminal activity, but instead participated in significant crimes of her own by passing confidential information to a gang leader," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Mestre was an NYPD officer from July 2013 to May 2022, in the public safety unit for the 52nd precinct in the Bronx. During June 2020, the unit was focusing on reducing gun violence in the area. That's when Mestre began talking with Andrew Done, the leader of the Shooting Boys gang that was responsible for much of the violence the unit was looking to stamp out in the University Heights neighborhood, prosecutors said.
The pair soon began an intimate relationship, during which time Mestre handed over confidential law enforcement information about a federal grand jury investigation into the gang — including a warning that authorities were preparing to bring a federal indictment, Williams alleged. She also gave the gang heads up about police operations at the time, allowing them to hide their alleged drug trade and other criminal activity.
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In Nov. 2020, Done shot and killed a member of a rival gang as he sat in his car in the Bronx, and the shooting was captured on security camera video. As police worked to identify and catch Done, otherwise known as Caballo, Mestre was one of the officers assisting with the case, Williams said. She secretly told her beau that police had been looking for him, and sent him a copy of the video showing him carry out the deadly shooting — proving that police had plenty of evidence to make their case.
In the days and weeks after the murder, Mestre's information she fed Done helped him duck authorities and eventually flee the country. She was aware of the phone numbers that law enforcement could use to track Done, so the duo used other cellphones to discretely communicate.
Months later, in March 2022, 10 members of the gang were charged in a 15-count indictment with various federal offenses, including racketeering conspiracy and murder. Done was charged with the murder of the rival gang member, and was caught by police in the Dominican Republic months later.
In Nov. 2022, Done pleaded guilty to both charges he faced. He is currently serving 35 years in prison.
Attorney information for Mestre was not immediately available.
