A disgraced NYPD cop and his California customs officer brother were both sentenced to three years in prison Friday for illegally trafficking military grade weapons to contacts in their native Philippines.
Rex Maralit, an NYPD officer for 11 years, and Wilfredo Maralit, a Customs and Border Protection officer for nine years, both begged Brooklyn federal Judge Allyne Ross for leniency.
“I was blind to allow myself to believe that I was merely avoiding red tape,” Rex Maralit, 46, of Lawrenceville, NJ, said. “I ruined my dignity, honor and good reputation.” Wilfredo Maralit, 49, of
Garden Grove, Calif., said he suffered from depression and destroyed a once promising career.
From 2009 and 2013, the duo purchased assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons without proper licensing and sold them to fences in the Philippines.
They conspired with a third brother living there, Ariel Maralit, to sell the weaponry, prosecutors said.
The brothers tried to lure their sibling to America to face charges here in exchange for lighter sentences but were unsuccessful. Ariel Maralit remains a fugitive.
“These defendants violated their sworn duties to uphold the law, abusing their positions of trust to profit from the illegal export of extremely dangerous weapons,” said US Attorney Loretta Lynch.
