Saturday, February 14th 2009, 12:16 AM
An NYPD cop moonlighted as a money-launderer for her drug-dealing boyfriend, picking up cash from his heroin operation and making bank deposits, prosecutors charged.
Officer Yaniris Balbuena, 31, wept as she was hauled into Manhattan Federal Court Friday. She was released on $200,000 bond and suspended from her $60,000-a-year NYPD job.
Her lawyer said her longtime boyfriend, the father of her two children, was killed in the Dominican Republic last year. His name was not released.
“She’s surprised that she’s bearing the weight for his criminal activity,” defense lawyer John Tynan said.
The feds say that starting in 2002, Balbuena laundered $238,000 in cash, picking up bags at locations across the Bronx – including a car audio store near the 44th Precinct stationhouse.
The nine-year veteran put the cash into eight different bank accounts, limiting deposits to $10,000 or less to avoid federal reporting requirements, they said.
An informant told the feds he overheard Balbuena telling the boyfriend he “needed to change his lifestyle and live an honest life with a normal job,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jared Murphey.
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Kevin Sullivan, CAMS, CCI is a retired 