Fired for having a little fun on the job?

In a “What the hell was I thinking? I must be an idiot” moment, Norberto Cappas made a bad decision that has come back to haunt him:

An officer who ordered two women to put on a “sex show” in a jail cell will be fired. Norberto Cappas, 32, was found guilty by a police tribunal of conduct unbecoming an officer and lying during a departmental investigation and will lose his job following a 30-day suspension, the department said Tuesday.

nternal Affairs investigators found that Cappas ordered the two women to kiss and touch each other and expose their breasts in September 2003. The two had been picked up on suspicion of drug possession, but they had no drugs and were not charged with a crime.

Of course, that was a stupid move. Sounds like perhaps an abuse of power done by someone who thought he could get away with it, although honestly I’m not sure I believe ol’ Norberto has sufficient mental facilities to actually think about whether he could get away with it:

Cappas has denied wrongdoing and refused to talk to a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter seeking comment Tuesday.

The real kicker though, is this little tidbit in the story:

The case sat idle for years until the Inquirer raised questions about it last year.

Yup. Sounds like a case of limited thinking combined with departmental inertia and buearacracy let him do something stupidly abusive and almost get away with it.

[tags]Stupid criminal watchers?, Stupid abuse of powers, Dumb cop story[/tags]