Parole officer charged with planting evidence in search of parolee's room

Planting is at 11 second mark
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A state parole officer was arrested and charged with three felonies in connection with his June admission in court that he had planted evidence in a drug and gun case.

State police charged Eliezer Rosario II, 43, with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. Both charges are class E felonies.

Rosario was arrested Nov. 30 and is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Dec. 14 in Buffalo City Court, according to court records. WIVB-TV first reported the arrest late Monday.

A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Tuesday the department’s Office of Special Investigations was continuing to assist with a pending criminal case that is being prosecuted by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office as a special prosecutor.

An internal investigation also was being prepared for arbitration, spokesman Thomas Mailey said in an email. Rosario is suspended without pay.

Rosario was testifying as a prosecution witness in a June 16 Erie County State Supreme Court jury trial against defendant Anthony S. Davis, when he admitted placing Davis’ prison identification tag next to a bullet that reportedly was found on a television stand in Davis’ room inside a boarding house.

Rosario’s admission came after defense attorneys for Davis showed Buffalo police body-camera video footage of the parole officer putting the tag next to the bullet and taking a photograph of the evidence. Rosario also admitted he wrote in a legal document that he found the ammunition round next to the ID tag.

Davis, 51, had been on parole since 2019 on a felony drug conviction.

When Rosario and his parole officer partner went on Nov. 25, 2020 to the Northumberland Avenue boarding house where Davis was living, they reportedly found a loaded handgun in a common area in the house.

Five Buffalo police officers arrived a short time later, with some of them wearing body cameras. Davis was charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of a weapon and two low-level drug charges.

At the request of the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, Judge Paul Wojtaszek dismissed the case against Davis following Rosario’s admission on the witness stand.

Davis has filed a notice of intent to sue Rosario, the state and the City of Buffalo.