An NYPD detective was suspended without pay after cops found a man bound and being held for ransom in the garage of the officer’s Queens home, law enforcement sources said Saturday.
Investigators from the NYPD’s major case squad went to the Springfield Gardens home of veteran cop Ondre Johnson, 45, about 3 p.m. Friday — after they were tipped off that a man was being held for $75,000 ransom, the sources said.
Cops honed in on the 181st St. address after they “pinged” a cell phone the kidnappers used to call a friend of the victim to demand the loot, sources said.
Johnson, a 17-year veteran who worked for the Brooklyn North Gang Unit, was walking out the front door as a team of detectives approached the home, sources said.
Johnson was taken into custody after he identified himself as an officer, sources said.
Soon after they got into the house, cops found a 25-year-old man tied up in the garage, sources said. Investigators also found two safes containing materials to make bogus credit cards, sources said.
Four men — including Johnson’s cousin, Hakeem Clark, 30 — were cuffed inside the house and taken into custody, sources said.
Clark and two others — James Gayle, 27, and Jason Hutson, 27 — were later charged with kidnapping, attempting to collect ransom and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said.
Alferdo Haughton, 24, was charged with kidnapping.
Johnson avoided charges in connection to the kidnapping, but sources say investigators are keeping him in their crosshairs.
“He’s still not completely off the hook,” a source said. “Something is not right here. They’re going to try to find out what he was doing there and how he knows these guys.”
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