NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, March 27, 2015, 5:05 PM
Rex Maralit, convicted of sending weapons to the Phillipines, arrives at Brooklyn Federal Court with his wife Sharon where he was sentenced to three years Federal Prison.
Jesse Ward/for New York Daily NewsWilfredo Maralit, Rex's brother who worked as a customs officer, was convicted of sending weapons to the Phillippines as well.
Previous Next
Enlarge
A disgraced city cop and his customs officer brother were sentenced to three years in federal prison Friday for illegally exporting military-grade weapons to their native Philippines.
A tearful Rex Maralit, 46, apologized for tarnishing his NYPD badge by sending rifles and other firearms overseas.
“I should have known better,” said the father-of-three. “I promise not to repeat my disgraceful conduct.”
Maralit had been a cop for 10 years when he was arrested in 2013. He resigned soon after.
His brother Wilfredo Maralit, 49, who worked in California as a customs and border protection officer, also pleaded guilty to the arms sales conspiracy.
The siblings used their law-enforcement credentials to buy the weapons, including Barrett long-range semi-automatic rifles and Special Combat Assault Rifles, or “SCAR” weapons.
They then sent them to a third brother in the Philippines, Ariel Maralit, who remains a fugitive.
The weapons were sold as a lucrative sideline to pad the American-based brothers’ taxpayer-funded salaries.
“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 U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
Rex and Wilfredo (pictured) used their law enforcement credentials to obtain the hardware in order to fill orders for Arial’s customers in the Philippines.
AP/United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District ofAriel Maralit, who allegedly participated in the operation from the Philippines, poses with a pair of assault weapons. He is still at large in the Philippines.
Previous Next
Enlarge
Judge Allyne Ross noted the Maralits traded with “some of the most powerful small arms in existence.”
But Ross also considered their public service, remorse and sincere — if unsuccessful — attempts to get their brother to surrender.
They will start serving their sentences in May.
