Ex-Police Officer Gets Jail for Helping Gang Member Boyfriend AlMomento.net

NEW YORK – A disgraced former NYPD officer was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for providing secret police information to her boyfriend, a deadly gang boss in the Bronx, prosecutors said.

Gina Mestre previously admitted in December that she provided information to the gang, the Shooting Boys, about the key witness against her. Gang members then used that information to allegedly assault and intimidate the witness, preventing him from cooperating further with police.

The information provided also allowed Mestre’s boyfriend, Andrew Donn, to avoid arrest when he was wanted for the murder. Mestre, 33, told him he was wanted for the murder of a rival gang member. This information gave him enough time to flee to the Dominican Republic in an attempt to avoid arrest.

Mestre, of Mohegan Lake, was sentenced Friday to 70 months in prison.

“Mestre betrayed and abused the trust placed in her by the NYPD and the people of New York. She took an oath to protect people from criminal activity, but instead gave sensitive information to a gang leader,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. had participated in significant crimes of his own by giving.”

Mestre was an NYPD officer in the 52nd Precinct Public Safety Unit in the Bronx, from July 2013 to May 2022. During June 2020, the unit focused on reducing gun violence in the area. That’s when Mestre began talking to Andrew Dunn, the leader of the Shooting Boys gang, which was responsible for the violence the unit sought to eradicate in the University Heights neighborhood, prosecutors said.

The couple soon began an intimate relationship, during which Mestre provided confidential police information about a federal grand jury investigation of the gang, including warnings that authorities were preparing to file federal charges, Williams alleged. He also informed the gang about police operations at the time, allowing them to hide their alleged drug dealing and other criminal activities.

In November 2020, Dunn shot and killed a rival gang member who was sitting in his car in the Bronx, and the shooting was captured on security camera video. As police worked to identify and capture Dunn, also known as Cabolo, Mestre was one of the officers who assisted in the case, Williams said. She secretly told her boyfriend that the police were looking for him and sent him a copy of the video of the fatal shooting, indicating that the police had plenty of evidence to make their case.

In the days and weeks leading up to the murder, the information Mestre gave Don helped him evade authorities and eventually flee the country. She was aware of phone numbers that could be used by law enforcement, so the two discreetly used other cell phones to communicate.

Months later, in March 2022, 10 members of the gang were charged in a 15-count indictment with various federal crimes, including conspiracy to defraud and murder. Dunn was accused of murdering a rival gang member and was captured by police in the Dominican Republic months later.

In November 2022, Dunn pleaded guilty to two charges against him. He is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence.

Attorney information for Mestre was not immediately available.