Former St. Paul cop testifies she rented car for purported gang member

A former St. Paul police gang investigator testified Wednesday that she rented two cars for a purported gang member at the same time police believe that he committed three shootings.

Ruby Diaz, 39, who was romantically involved with the shooting suspect, Ramone D. Smaller, when she rented him the cars, was asked by Assistant Ramsey County Attorney David Miller if she was with him on the days of the shootings.

"No, I don't believe so," she said. "No, no, no."

Diaz was convicted in December of identity theft for using her best friend's identity to wire $1,500 to Smaller, who is serving six years in prison for attempted murder.

Smaller, 22, is on trial in Ramsey County District Court on 10 felony counts. Police arrested Smaller in late October 2013 while he was driving a Kia Optima that he had repaired after the rear windshield was shot out.

One witness previously testified that he saw a Kia Optima leaving the scene of a shooting in St. Paul, and Diaz testified Wednesday that she had rented an Optima for Smaller from Hertz at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Diaz added that the week before, Smaller was driving a different car she also had rented.

The make and model of that vehicle were not discussed, and no witnesses have identified a vehicle in that shooting.

St. Paul police Sgt. Tim McCarty testified Wednesday that police searched the Optima and then returned it to Hertz, where it was put back into circulation.

It wasn't until January, 2014, McCarty said, that police did a more thorough search of the vehicle and found a gun stashed between the driver's seat cushion and metal plate.

"It was in a cleverly concealed place," McCarty said.

Smaller's attorney, Christopher Zipko, seized on the lapse in time. Zipko is building his case on the fact that no witnesses have identified Smaller as the shooter in any of the incidents, and that forensic evidence apparently shows that others in addition to Smaller contributed to DNA found on the gun.

"He's an embarrassment to St. Paul police," said Zipko.

Zipko told jurors in his opening statements Tuesday that circumstantial evidence wouldn't be enough to convict Smaller.

Diaz met Smaller when she was a school resource officer at Humboldt High School in St. Paul and he was a 12-year-old seventh-grader. She testified at her trial that the relationship became romantic when Smaller turned 21 in 2013.

Diaz was fired from the police department after her conviction, and sentenced to 30 days in the county workhouse and five years' probation for her crime.

Testimony will resume Thursday.