From left: County Clerk candidate Lauren Gillen, former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and former Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, all Democrats, on Tuesday, May 21, 2013.

It’s looking more and more likely that Nassau County voters will have a familiar feeling when they read the candidates names to choose from on election ballots at the polls this fall.

Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs endorsed Tuesday former County Comptroller Howard Weitzman after Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) bowed out to spare the party a primary in that race—one of two local Democratic primaries Jacobs is trying to avoid.

“As Yogi Bera would say, ‘This is déjà vu all over again,’” Weitzman told reporters at a news conference in Mineola, vowing to unseat Republican Comptroller George Maragos, who won Weitzman’s job nearly four years ago. “I’m really looking forward to running again on a ticket with Tom Suozzi.”

Suozzi, the former Democratic county executive seeking his job back from Republican Ed Mangano, who unseated him in 2009, endorsed Weitzman, saying: “I know he can do it because he’s done it.”

Together with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, the top of the Democratic ticket may be mostly the same as it was four years ago.

The one clearly new name is Lauren Gillen, a Rockville Centre-based attorney who’s the Democratic candidate running against County Clerk Maureen O’Connell, a Republican who won her job in 2005.

The wild card is Adam Haber, a Roslyn school board member and businessman challenging Suozzi to a primary on the Democratic line in the race against Mangano because he believes it will take an outsider to clean up the county.

Mangano, Maragos and O’Connell are each running for re-election on the GOP line. A Republican challenger to Rice has yet to emerge.

“My overriding goal has always been to have a unified ticket…a primary would be an unnecessary use of resources,” Jacobs said. “We ought to be focused on the Mangano administration.”

Wink, a county legislator representing the 11th district, had decided not to run for his current job after his seat was merged into the district represented by Legis. Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck) last year. Jacobs alluded to another office Wink may be nominated to run for at the upcoming party convention.

“If there is one that I’ve learned first hand,” Wink said, “the Mangano administration really ran this county into the ground.”

Maragos didn’t waste any time firing back at Weitzman, who repeatedly compared Mangano and Maragos to Suozzi’s Republican predecessor Tom Gulotta, who led the county into near bankruptcy at the turn of the millennium.

“The residents will now have a clear choice between Weitzman, who left the county nearly bankrupt with a $250 million deficit, and Comptroller Maragos who has restored fiscal stability to the county resulting in three years without a property tax increase,” Jostyn Hernandez, Maragos’ spokesman, said in an email.

Kathleen Rice points to a board of mug shots at a news conference in her Mineola office Thursday, April 18, 2013.

Nassau County authorities say they made their biggest gang bust ever by rounding up 14 leading members of a Roosevelt-based Crips set for alleged attempted murders, assaults, robberies, gun and drug dealing.

Members of the Rollin’ 60s have been accused of selling illegal handguns they smuggled out of state, shooting someone they believed was a witness to those sales, committing a drive-by shooting and dealing heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Also nabbed were four associates of the gang, which authorities described as “ultra-violent.”

“They were a little too cute in how they were advertising,” District Attorney Kathleen Rice told reporters at a news conference after showing a rap video posted on YouTube in which some of the suspects posed with guns, drugs and cash. She said rooting out the leadership all at once will make it harder for the gang to regroup.

The months-long joint investigation with the district attorney’s investigators, Nassau police and the FBI led to the arrest of the set’s leader, 27-year-old Raphael “Gusto” Osborne, who authorities said dealt guns out of a house he shared with fellow gang leader Derick “D-Nice” Hernandez, 21.

The FBI Long Island Gang Task Force—which Suffolk police quit last year—has estimated there are up to 5,000 gang members living among LI’s more than 3 million residents. Most are members of the Bloods, Crips and MS-13, all of which have chapters nationwide.

The Rollin’ 60s have been operating in Roosevelt since about 2001, but authorities kicked their probe into high gear when a member, Michael Benitez, shot and wounded a Hempstead village police officer in December 2011.

Investigators alleged they documented three instances in which suspects bought guns in southern states and sold them illegally last May. In October, Hernandez allegedly shot someone he believed witnessed the sales. Fellow gang members later tried to lure the victim out of hiding, authorities said.

Hernandez and another suspect allegedly shot and wounded a man and a bystander in August, too. Members of the gang also shot a victim outside of a party following an argument in October.

The suspects are believed to be involved in a drive-by shooting last month and a beating and robbery last week as well.

“Gang and gun violence is not going to be tolerated in Nassau County,” Police Commissioner Thomas Dale said. “Period, case closed, the end.”

Nassau County Police Benevolent Association President James Carver, lower left corner, was flanked by fellow officers during a news conference about an alleged cop killer Wednesday, April 10, 2013.

An Oakdale man has been indicted on upgraded charges in the alleged drunken-driving crash that led to the death of a Nassau County police officer on the Long Island Expressway last fall.

James Ryan pleaded not guilty Wednesday at Nassau County court to vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, vehicular assault, assault and criminally negligent homicide.

The 26-year-old had initially pleaded not guilty after his arrest to charges of vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, leaving the scene an accident and traffic violations.

“He’s been, was and continues to be devastated by all of the circumstances,” said Ryan’s Garden City-based attorney, Marc Gann, noting that Ryan’s father is a police officer.

James Carver, president of the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, said the family of Highway Patrolman Joseph Olivieri—the third of four Nassau officers killed in the line of duty in a 20-month span—is also “devastated.”

Prosecutors said Ryan, who is free on $120,000 bail, was driving his Toyota Camry eastbound on the LIE after leaving a Manhattan club when he struck a cab and fled the scene despite his car being damaged on Oct. 18. Shortly later he slammed on his brakes, when an off-duty New York City police detective rear-ended him, causing both vehicles to spin out, according to investigators.

Officer Olivieri was first on the scene, parked his patrol car behind the detective’s and walked across the road to check on Ryan, whose car was blocking the HOV lane, when an SUV hit Olivieri and Ryan’s car, authorities said. The 13-year police veteran died shortly later.

The detective, Ed Wilson, suffered a fractured sternum, multiple fractured ribs and heart palpitations. Ryan’s blood-alcohol content was between .13 and .14 percent at the scene, prosecutors said.

“This defendant had every opportunity to prevent this tragedy, from not driving drunk in the first place to pulling over after the initial crash,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “Yet his selfishness dictated every decision, and now a dedicated police officer and family man is dead.”

But, Gann said it is “weird” that the SUV driver who struck Olivieri was not charged and his client, who’s facing up to 25 years in prison, was. “I believe that there’s a very, very significant causation issue here,” Gann said.

Carver disagreed. “He caused those series of events to happen that ultimately resulted in Joseph’s death,” the patrol officers’ union head said. “He should be held responsible.”

The PBA is hosting a benefit honoring Olivieri and Officer Arthur Lopez, a member of the elite Emergency Services Unit who was gunned down a week after Olivieri’s death. The benefit will be held 3-9 p.m. Saturday at The Sands in Atlantic Beach.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during press conference announcing Public Trust Act.

New York’s top elected official is now setting his sights on the next crisis at hand—public corruption.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday joined a team of district attorneys from across the state, including Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, in proposing the Public Trust Act, which would empower local prosecutors and creates a new class of public corruption crimes.

“Over the past few days there have been several charges brought against public officials,” the governor said. “They span city and state government, they span Democrats and Republicans and they paint a truly ugly picture of our political landscape.”

“I’d like to say that this is an unprecedented situation, that public corruption is a new problem, but it isn’t,” he added. “And in many ways that’s what makes it worse. There have been too many incidents for too many years.”

Under the proposed legislation, which the governor will try to push through during this legislative session, there will be new crimes for violating public trust. The new class of crimes would include bribery of a public servant, corrupting the government and failure to report public corruption. The penalties also call for a lifetime ban from government for anyone who has been convicted of public corruption.

“Prosecutors need better tools to hold public officials accountable when they betray the public’s trust,” Rice said in a statement, noting that the “proposal provides a much-needed overhaul to New York’s public corruption laws so we can better investigate and prosecute those who defraud the taxpayers, while strengthening the penalties for those who abuse their office.”

The proposal comes one week after State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) was arrested on bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly bribing Republican leaders in an attempt to get his name on the GOP line in the New York City mayoral race.

And on Thursday, Assemb. Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx), was arrested and charged with conspiracy and bribery. Prosecutors accused Stevenson of taking more than $22,000 in bribes to write legislation.

“If you are a public official and if you break the law you will get caught, you will be prosecuted and you will go to jail,” said Cuomo.

The governor acknowledged that he would “like to strike while the iron is hot,” a tactic that he just recently used to pass tougher gun control laws after the Newtown, Conn. shooting.

The Public Trust Act would increase bribery penalties and it would for the first time make it a crime for any public official or employee to fail to report bribery.

Nassau lawmakers are concerned about contracts for Sandy recovery work, such as the repairs to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and surrounding area that caused this truck to fall into an East Rockaway sinkhole last fall.

Members of a key Nassau County committee debated Monday whether to approve seven-figure contracts to companies hired for Sandy recovery following reports that some are subject to audits and criminal investigation.

Democratic lawmakers accused the legislature’s Republican leadership of rushing to approve funds to firms under scrutiny and refusing their request to have County Comptroller George Maragos answer questions from the Rules Committee regarding his probe.

“I’m just wondering if we’re doing the proper investigatory work on our end before we vote yes or no,” Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said while joining calls that Maragos clarify the issue before the vote.

“Until [Maragos] completes his audit and review, we thought that it would be premature for us to consider bringing him before us,” said Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow).

The more than $1 million contract that sparked the debate was to pay Manhattan-based Hazen Sawyer Engineering, one of a dozen firms being audited, for coordinating storm-damage repair work through the end of March. The contract was later approved along party lines.

Lawmakers also expressed concern with a recent Newsday report citing anonymous sources saying that District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s office is investigating whether Huntington-based Looks Great Services Inc. properly paid workers it hired for the county’s Sandy cleanup. A spokesman for Rice was not available for comment.

“The comptroller’s office has sent letters to 12 of the largest contractors requesting information on any sub-contractors employed in the course of county work during and post-Superstorm Sandy, including amounts paid to these subcontractors,” Jostyn Hernandez, a spokesman for Maragos, told the Press. “The comptroller has invited all the legislators to personally review Superstorm Sandy-related claims.”

Balking at that suggestion was Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn), who’s running against former comptroller Howard Weitzman for the Democratic Party line to challenge Maragos, a Republican, in the November elections.

“It’s the difference between having up to 19 private meetings with each and every legislator and one public meeting,” Wink said. “What can be said behind closed doors can be said right here on the record.”

Field audits of Nassau’s contracts are common in cases that involve outside funding—in this case, federal Sandy aid—according to Ken Arnold, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Works, which he said assists in providing documents.

Advocates also spoke out against approving the contracts without more input from Maragos. They included leaders of nonprofits Long Island Jobs with Justice and the Park Advocacy and Recreation Council of Nassau.

Legis. Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said not approving the contracts would slow the county’s Sandy repairs. “The Sandy recovery effort has to go forward, you can’t stop these contracts,” he said.

During a separate committee meeting later Monday, Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) called on GOP legislative leaders to hold hearings on the Sandy contracts, saying, “We want to make sure the work that we’ve approved is being done.”

-With Spencer Rumsey

A Nassau County jury convicted Carlos Segura on five counts of robbery, four counts of burglary, robbery, two counts of assault, three counts of unlawful imprisonment and escape. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

“This was a savage attack against a group of people who barely had enough time for breakfast before being subjected to such violence,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. “Thanks to the excellent work of members of the NCPD and members of my office, however, this defendant will spend a very long time behind bars.”

The conviction stems from a Sept. 19, 2011 home invasion that authorities said involved three other men who are all awaiting trial.

Prosecutors said Segura and two of the men—Gustavo Arroyo and Eduardo Cruz—were able to enter the home through an unlocked front door. Cruz allegedly beat a female resident before calling for Segura and Arroyo to follow him inside, prosecutors said. Segura, armed with a gun, and Cruz and Arroyo allegedly armed with knives, first tied up three residents and then a fourth person who lived in the basement, authorities said.

The men searched the house for money as the residents were tied up, officials said.

During the course of the robbery, prosecutors said, a male resident returned home and tried to enter the house but was grabbed by Arroyo. He was able to break free and ran into the street screaming for help. That’s when the three men, including, Segura, fled the house and got inside a waiting car driven by Dario Guerrero.

A Nassau police officer stopped the car, ordered all four men out and tried to arrest Cruz, who allegedly resisted arrest and refused to be handcuffed, prosecutors said. Segura and Guerrero jumped back in the car and allegedly drove straight at the officer, who fired at the car, striking Guerrero in the leg, officials said. Arroyo tried to flee on foot but was arrested a short time later along with Cruz, officials said.

Guerrero was arrested after a traffic stop and Segura was arrested in a cab heading back to Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

Segura will be sentenced May 7.

Brian Davis, the attorney for Raymond Roth, speaks to reporters outside Nassau COunty court on March 21, 2013.

A Massapequa man has admitted faking his own drowning death in an attempt to escape mounting debt, have his family profit from his life insurance policy and secretly start his life over in Florida.

Raymond Roth pleaded guilty Thursday at Nassau County court to fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony, in a plea deal with prosecutors. He’s expected to be sentenced May 21 to 90 days in jail on the condition that he pays $36,000 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard and Nassau police for resources wasted searching for his body at Jones Beach last summer.

“I’m feeling better, I’ve started school,” the 48-year-old unemployed telecommunications worker told Judge Tammy Robbins after recapping his two-week psych-ward stay, diagnoses as bipolar and suicide attempt before he turned himself in to police last August.

Roth’s 22-year-old son, Jonathan, had reported that Raymond went missing while swimming at the beach July 28, prompting a search that lasted days until police learned he was at his time share in Florida. Jonathan pleaded guilty to conspiracy and filing a false report Monday.

“He was not thinking rationally at the time,” Raymond’s Garden City based attorney, Brian Davis, told reporters outside the courthouse. He said his client was planning to get a job on a fishing boat or at a tiki bar in the Sunshine State.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the bizarre case proved to be a needless distraction for search and rescue workers.

“This case easily could’ve turned tragic had an actual emergency occurred while this defendant sent first responders on a wild goose chase,” Rice said.

Davis said that Raymond, who is reportedly enrolled in culinary school, is hoping to reconnect with his son, who accused Raymond of abusing him and coercing him to participate in the scheme.

Raymond Roth

Raymond’s wife, Evana, filed for divorce last year after she discovered emails revealing her husband and son had plotted the fake drowning a week in advance. Raymond had also put the family home up for sale, sold his clothes and emptied the couples’ bank accounts.

After the plot started to unravel, Raymond called police himself to say he would turn himself in, then was stopped for speeding in South Carolina while on his way back to New York.

Raymond had faced up to 15 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial of insurance fraud. His son is due back in court April 15. Raymond declined to comment to reporters while leaving the court.

CROOKED IN HQ: Former Second Deputy Nassau Police Commissioner William Flanagan, convicted of conspiring to cover up a burglary, faced a press swarm after his arrest in March 2012.
(Photo by Rashed Mian/Long Island Press)

After about five frustrated days of jury deliberations, Judge Mark Cohen was preparing to declare a mistrial in the cover-up case against an ex-Nassau County police brass member when a court officer handed him a note: The jurors had reached a verdict.

With the clock running out, two jurors and Cohen—a Suffolk judge brought in after two Nassau judges had recused themselves last year—were about to go on vacation, threatening to nullify the month-long trial. Shortly before 8 p.m. a hush fell over the small crowd at Nassau court in Mineola on Feb. 15 as the jury foreman read the verdict. William Flanagan, the retired second deputy Nassau police commissioner, readily looked on.

He was found guilty of conspiracy, a misdemeanor, and not guilty of receiving reward for official misconduct, a felony, after being convicted of two misdemeanor official misconduct counts on Valentine’s Day.

“This isn’t over,” Flanagan calmly told reporters outside the courtroom.

It was his first public statement since he’d given a round of interviews following his March 2012 arrest—prosecutors had unsuccessfully tried to use those quotes as evidence since he never took the stand.

“We’re very disappointed that the jury mistakenly convicted him of the misdemeanor,” said Bruce Barket, Flanagan’s Garden City-based attorney, who vowed to appeal. “They exonerated him of the most serious charge. The appellate court will take care of the rest.”

District Attorney Kathleen Rice, the top-elected Democrat seeking re-election in Republican-controlled Nassau, now faces strained relations with the police agency her prosecutors work closest with after she took down its disgraced ex-third top cop, sources in both departments say. As two of Flanagan’s alleged co-conspirators await trial—the highest-ranking of the brass to do so after an especially scandalous year for Nassau cops—Rice echoed a Press expose that had sparked Flanagan’s arrest and conviction.

“This case has always been about making sure that there isn’t one set of rules for the wealthy and connected, and another set for everyone else,” Rice said in a statement. “The jury validated our belief in that important principle.”

The scandal erupted five months after Bronx prosecutors accused 15 NYPD officers of fixing tickets in what some described as New York City’s biggest police favoritism case in a half-century. Those cops pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

As far as Long Island law enforcement cover-up scandals go, Flanagan’s conviction may be the most serious case since a New York State commission investigated widespread allegations of Suffolk County police corruption in the 1980s—assuming that discrepancies revealed at the now-shuttered Nassau police crime lab were just mistakes and not acts intended to sway cases.

UNINDICTED CO-CONSPIRATOR:
Gary Parker, a CPA from Merrick who asked his police friends’ for help quashing the arrest of his son, Zachary, was a star witness at Flanagan’s trial (Photo by Rashed Mian/Long Island Press)

Nassau jurors unanimously agreed that Flanagan had joined a conspiracy to return electronics stolen from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in May 2009 by then-17-year-old student Zachary Parker as a favor to Parker’s father, Gary, a donor to a nonprofit Nassau police foundation, who wanted to avoid Zach’s arrest. But, by acquitting Flanagan of taking three $100 Morton’s steakhouse gift cards from the Parkers as a reward for misconduct, jurors had doubted that there was a quid pro quo, apparently buying the defense argument that the two were friends who’d exchanged gifts before.

“We realized that it was a conspiracy from day one,” one juror told the Press the night of the verdict. “They did what they did. They can’t undo that.”

Now that the first of the conspiracy cases have wrapped, one nagging question persists: Why should a jaded public care?

CALLING SERPICO

For a case that required jurors to listen to 18 witnesses, hear dozens of emails read aloud and watch what observers estimated was a record number of sidebars over 12 days of testimony, there was at least some star appeal to spice things up.

Those who sat with Flanagan supporters were high-ranking current and former officials, including his old boss, retired Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who told the Press: “Bill’s a good friend.” Gary Parker testified that Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Channel billed the Nassau County Police Foundation—a group fundraising for a new police academy the two donated to—for $600 worth of his Pinheads and Patriots books. Parker also testified he’d asked for Flanagan’s help while the ex-cop was securing the 2009 U.S. Golf Open at Bethpage State Park.

But, beyond the splashy celebrity lure, such cases can have a real chilling effect.

“There’s an old saying: Everybody does it,” says Peter Cardalena, a St. John’s University criminal justice professor, Floral Park-based attorney and retired NYPD officer. “We just let it roll off our backs. The public should be concerned.”

He recalls students telling him when they think they’ve been improperly stopped by police but rarely report the allegations to internal affairs investigators because they feel “nothing can be done.” Cardalena counters that police retraining is routinely ordered after misconduct claims are made—a sign such allegations are taken seriously.

Police Commissioner Thomas Dale—whose first task was closing half of eight precincts—was hired halfway through a 20-month period in which four cops died in the line of duty and oversaw a year in which a half dozen police employees were arrested. Last May he had the Nassau County Legislature grant him the power to fire officers as he sees fit without arbitration, although the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association is fighting that move in court.

Still, by all accounts, 2012 was the department’s worst year in recent memory. Aside from Flanagan’s two alleged co-conspirators—former Deputy Chief of Patrol John Hunter and retired Det. Sgt. Alan Sharpe—ex-Nassau Police Officer Michael Tedesco pleaded not guilty in December to 109 charges alleging he spent shifts at his mistress’ house, police aide Frances Colvin pleaded not guilty to harassing a romantic rival, and another cop was sentenced in June to community service after admitting to shoplifting $40 of baby food. Inspector Thomas DePaola was also demoted for downgrading crime statistics in July.

Justin Hopson, a former New Jersey State Trooper who blew the whistle on corrupt cops and is the author of Breaking the Blue Wall: One Man’s War Against Police Corruption, says Dale will have to do more than fire bad apples to restore public trust in the department.

“Every act of police corruption needs to be unearthed, investigated properly and prosecuted,” he tells the Press, adding that Dale needs to “create a cultural sea change, one where the police police one another.”

Inspector Kenneth Lack, the department’s chief spokesman, declined to comment for this story. Rice’s office referred questions back to her statement.

From left: Retired Det. Sgt. Alan Sharpe, ex-Second Deputy Commissioner William Flanagan and former Deputy Chief of Patrol John Hunter. Sharpe and Hunter had their cases severed from Flanagan’s and are awaiting trial.

OFFICE POLITICS

The difference in opinion between police and prosecutors over whether Flanagan should have ever been charged could be measured in the distance separating his supporters and the district attorney staffers seated on opposite sides of the courtroom during the trial.

How much that rift carries over into everyday inter-agency cooperation—or lack thereof—is open to debate, although observers agree that the internal politics is more an issue than the case’s potential impact when Rice’s re-election campaign ramps up later this year.

“My gut says the verdict has its own implications but it’s going to be like a tree falling in the forest—it’s not going to have any political implications,” says Jerry Kremer, a former state Assemblyman turned LI Democratic strategist.

Although representatives for the police and the prosecution declined to discuss the rift on the record, those close to the situation agree that there are fences in need of mending.

“I think there’s relationships that should be developed and made stronger…for the continued success of policing and prosecuting in Nassau County,” says James Carver, president of the Nassau PBA, which has supported Rice’s past campaigns.

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli is confident that both sides will eventually bury the handcuffs.

“This is not the first person in a police force who’s been charged with a crime,” says Ciampoli. “This comes up in the course of business. It’s come up before; it’ll come up again. The professionals on both ends are working through it.”

In her statement the night of the verdict, Rice acknowledged that the case is a black eye for the beleaguered police department.

“This is a huge win for the public, but it’s also a sad day for an awful lot of incredibly hard-working Nassau cops who do their brave jobs honestly every day,” Rice’s statement reads. “This case is a reminder that to safeguard the public’s trust and the integrity of our honest officers, we must be vigilant in our fight against corruption and misconduct.”

Still, don’t expect the issue to spark any action in the halls of county government.

A spokesman for Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) says there are no proposals or public hearings in the county legislature stemming from the case. A spokeswoman for County Executive Ed Mangano did not respond to a request for comment.

The March 31, 2011 Press cover story “Membership Has Its Privileges” sparked an investigation by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office that resulted in the felony conviction of Zachary Parker and the indictments of three ex-top cops.

JAIL CELL DOORS

Flanagan, who resigned following a year in which he was ranked LI’s highest-paid cop, is scheduled to be sentenced May 1. Misdemeanor convictions are punishable by up to a year in jail, although it’s doubtful he’ll serve much time—if any.

His co-defendants, Hunter and Sharpe, had their cases severed from Flanagan’s and they are due back in court March 15. Their attorneys declined to comment.

Zachary Parker, the burglar who was never arrested by police, pleaded guilty to charges in a grand jury indictment after prosecutors investigated the cover-up allegations in the Press. He’s serving up to three years in prison.

How many others like him whose cover-ups were never exposed we may never know.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice at press conference announcing arrest of 17 men in scrap metal scam.

More than a dozen Long Island Rail Road employees were arrested after a grand jury indicted the group for a three-year scrap metal theft scheme that netted more than a quarter of a million dollars.

The indictment charging the 15 LIRR employees and two other men was unsealed Friday in Nassau County court where the men were split into two groups during their arraignments. Prosecutors alleged the men stole more than $253,694 worth of copper from the railroad, sold it to Two Brother’s Scrap Metal in Farmingdale and pocketed the cash.

“At a time when riders throughout Nassau County struggle with economic hardship and the disruptions that are caused by natural disasters unparalleled in most of our lives, it is outrageous that these public employees neglected their jobs, stole from us all,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said a press conference.

The employees, including two assistant foreman, worked in the railroad’s communications department where they maintain railroad yard signal equipment, officials said. The two other men were described as acquaintances. The alleged scrap metal scheme occurred between Jan. 1, 2010 and Jan. 10 of this year.

The schemers were hit with varying charges of conspiracy, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and thefts of services. Officials with the Metropolitan Transit Authority only became aware of the copper theft when a tipster contacted them last June.

The MTA Inspector General’s office and the LIRR alerted the district attorney’s office soon after, sparking a high-tech investigation that included GPS monitoring, license plate reading technology and on-the-ground surveillance documenting the alleged scheme.

The workers, sometimes while on duty, would allegedly steal new and used copper wire stored in four different railroad yards and use LIRR trucks to transport the valuable metal to a covert location, and then use their personal vehicles to drop it off at the scrapyard, effectively stealing from the public, officials said.

17 men nabbed in LIRR scrap metal scheme.

“This behavior will not be tolerated at a taxpayer supported agency like the Long Island Rail Road,” LIRR President Helena Williams said. But she lamented how the scheme happened right under the railroad’s nose, saying, “It is a sad day for the Long Island Rail Road.”

“I have to rely on my employees,” she added. “And when we have employees stealing from the company, and we have employees violating that public trust, it is a very very sad day for our company.”

The LIRR has been marred in controversy recently. Just last year, the railroad was embarrassed by a pension scam that included hundreds of employees faking injuries and illnesses to scam their way to early pensions.

MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger said he wouldn’t “characterize it as a culture of theft,” in the LIRR, but said there needs to be an examination of the railroad’s “apparent lack of effective supervision…as well as the evident vulnerabilities of inventory controls.”

The railroad acted quickly to the arrests, announcing that they will try to fire all those involved and would move to terminate their pensions, Williams said.

And in response to the scheme, which Kluger noted was “obviously too easy” to get away with, the LIRR will increase security at its 12 scrap metal yards by securing bins, increase surveillance, restrict employee parking and continue to track vehicles through GPS.

“There was a level of trust and honesty,” Williams lamented. “It is now proved to be me I cannot have that level of trust and honesty.”

The workers tenure at the railroad ranged from 6 to 27 years, officials said. Their base salary was between $65,000 and $85,000.

Rice’s office determined “that no criminal charges are appropriate,” but they will continue to investigate the incident in order to issue what the district attorney’s spokesman called “comprehensive findings and recommendations” at a future date.

The DA’s office noted that the investigation uncovered a “unique combination of circumstances” that led to the boat capsizing as 27 people—17 adults and 10 children—celebrated a fireworks demonstration on the 34-foot boat in Cold Spring Harbor.

“Additionally, it has also uncovered gaping holes in the maritime regulatory system and contributory design flaws in the vessel,” Rice’s spokesman John Byrne said. “The combination of these factors proved to be deadly but cannot support criminal charges that require proof beyond reasonable doubt.”

The statement didn’t say what specific design flaws contributed to the accident.

The three children who tragically died—8-year-old Victoria Gaines, 12-year-old David Aureliano of Kings Park and Harlie Treanor, 11, of Huntington Station—were all trapped in the cabin when the boat sank.

Shortly after the incident, the cabin cruiser’s owner said the boat was not overcrowded and that there were enough life jackets on the vessel.

The man at the helm told reporters afterward that a wave hit the boat right before it capsized.