Florida police officers to be charged

Two Florida police officers who allegedly stole cash from pain clinic clients, kidnapped a man and lied about cases will be charged next week, sources say.

Detectives Billy Koepke and Brian Dodge, of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department's Street Crimes Unit have been under investigation for several months, sources told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Police internal investigators say they believe Koepke and Dodge targeted drug buyers and sellers, claimed to have found cocaine on a person who had none and stole several thousand dollars in cash meant to have been placed in evidence, the newspaper reported.

Koepke, 32, and Dodge, 30, have been "relieved from duty with pay" since April 18, police department officials said.

Investigators say the investigation was sparked by a security video that contradicted the officers' accounts of two arrests they made at a Red Roof Inn in Oakland Park north of Fort Lauderdale. UPI