BRONX NEWS: Detective charged with perjury for lying about witnessing drug sale

A Bronx narcotics detective was charged with 49 counts of perjury Thursday for repeatedly lying to a grand jury and judge about witnessing a supposed drug sale.

Detective Francisco Payano gave false testimony to a grand jury 13 times and also lied under oath 36 times during two court hearings in January 2010, prosecutors said.

Payano said he saw Omar Tawdeen, 31, sell crack to three people in the lobby of a building on Bronxwood Ave. in January 2009.

But a surveillance video from the lobby proved Tawdeen wasn’t even there, prosecutors said.

The charges against Tawdeen were tossed in February 2010.

“These are very serious charges,” Bronx Assistant District Attorney Donald Levin said at Payano’s arraignment Thursday. “The surveillance video proves the defendant was never even in the area.”

“This (alleged crime) simply just did not happen,” Levin said of Tawdeen’s case.

Payano, who pleaded not guilty, was released on his own recognizance.

The detective had no comment outside court. Payano was escorted out of the building flanked by four cops, one of whom lunged at a Daily News photographer.

“Give him a break or else!” the unidentified cop hollered.

kdeutsch@nydailynews.com