Boston police fires officer who had service gun stolen during R.I. night out

The Boston Police Department has fired an officer who had his service gun stolen while he was off-duty during a February night out at a strip club and a bar in Rhode Island with two women charged with stealing the firearm.

Emanuel Brandao, 37, was fired on March 28, Boston police Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a department spokesman, said Monday.

Brandao, who was hired by the department in December 2016, was fired because of “his conduct during his probationary period was unsatisfactory and rendered him unfit to be a police officer with the Boston police,” Boyle said.

“While off-duty in Rhode Island, he failed to properly secure his department-issued firearm when he gave his vehicle keys to a civilian and the civilian used those keys to take his firearm,” he said.

Brandao was placed on paid leave after the incident.

Brandao reported his gun was stolen from his car at a Hampton Inn in Pawtucket, R.I. around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, according to a police report provided to the Globe by the Providence Journal, which first reported the story.

The gun, a Glock 22 owned by the Boston Police Department, had been locked in the glove compartment of the officer’s gray BMW, the report stated.

The officer told police he had gone to the Hampton Inn to meet “Natalia,” a woman he said he met through a cousin. He said he and “Natalia,” whom investigators identified as Neish Rivera, 26, had been exchanging messages through Instagram.

Rivera was one of three exotic dancers arrested for prostitution at the Foxy Lady strip club in Providence in December, according to the report.

Last month, Rivera pleaded no contest last month to prostitution at the Foxy Lady.

Brandao met Rivera at a bar in the hotel before going to the Nara Lounge in Providence. Brandao told investigators had his gun on him and that Rivera’s friend, Melissa Dacier, met them at the lounge, according to the report.

After about two hours, the three went to a Providence strip club, The Cadillac Lounge, but were soon thrown out. Club management said they considered a man with Brandao to be “undesirable” and knew Rivera, a former stripper there, had been charged with prostitution at the Foxy Lady.

After the club, the trio went back to the Hampton Inn.

On the third floor of the hotel, the women got into an argument with a man, later identified as Kyle Benford, and his girlfriend. Benford had accused Dacier and Rivera of stealing something.

When things eventually calmed down, Brandao and the two women went to his hotel room, where they “hung out,” police said.

The women told police that Brandao agreed to pay them a total of $2,500 for sex, using a money app on his phone, according to police and court records.

Brandao told police he gave his keys to Dacier while they were at the hotel to retrieve his phone charger from his car, according to court documents.

Police alleged that Benford went to the car when Dacier did and stole Brandao’s gun. Rivera later directed investigators to the missing gun, which was wrapped in a Walmart bag and stuffed in a mail slot of a Hartford Avenue fire station in Providence, according to police.

Rivera, 26, of Pawtucket, was arrested hours later on a warrant for larceny of a firearm and conspiracy, the report stated.

Dacier, 23, of Providence, was arrested on charges of larceny of a firearm, conspiracy, and failure to report for a summons in an unrelated incident.

Benford, 24, was also arrested in February in connection with the theft of the gun.

Benford, Rivera, and Dacier’s cases are still pending.