But the investigation escalated again in 2015 with more subpoenas. Former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota sentenced to 5 years in Spota has been active in the fight against the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. ALSO READ | Earth warming likely to pass limit set by international leaders. The open homicide investigation is still underway. The thief took a duffel bag from the car that contained sex toys, a pornographic DVD and Viagra. Copyright 2023 WABC-TV. They depicted Burke as Spotas "professional child of sorts" and a wise elder who told a golf buddy after Burkes conviction that he shouldnt sympathize with the wayward cop because he "did it to himself.". Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine today after attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into the brutality of a prisoner by former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke in 2012. Hickey, now retired and facing sentencing himself, named Spota, McPartland, Burke, former Suffolk chief of detectives William Madigan and himself as members of a self-appointed group nicknamed "The Inner Circle." I hope not to die in prison alone. In 2019, a jury convicted Spota, of Mount Sinai, and McPartland, 55, of Northport, of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and acting as accessories to the deprivation of prisoner Christopher Loeb's civil rights. The obstruction initially worked, thwarting federal agents for several months. Burke was eventually found guilty in the incident andsentenced to 46 months in prison. ", Bellone said Suffolk District Attorney Tim Sini has "restored integrity to the office. The remains of at least ten persons have been found on South Shore beaches, and are believed to be related. "[12] In the 1990s, an internal investigation found that he had violated several police protocols, including having sex in his patrol car while in uniform with a prostitute who used crack cocaine. Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland were convicted of obstruction of justice and other crimes for their role in a scheme to protect James Burke. Is Convicted on Long Island. Shawn Lawrence (l.) plans to sue disgraced ex-Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota, who is awaiting trial in federal court. Prosecutors had argued the men deserved 8 years behind bars for doing "the exact opposite" of their jobs in the face of a scandal that eventually engulfed the county's law enforcement power structure. The defense took aim at Hickey, who retired shortly before pleading guilty in 2016 to conspiracy to obstruct justice, and who told jurors he is hoping for leniency at his future sentencing because of his role as a cooperating prosecution witness. Spota hugged his wife and his weeping daughter before leaving the courtroom in silence. Their behavior was outrageous, and their sentences today prove as much," said FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Maguire. Vinegrad also raised the possibility of the former district attorney, who was vaccinated against COVID-19 becoming infected in prison and then possibly dying. A former Long Island prosecutor was sentenced to 5 years in prison on Tuesday for helping cover up the police beating of a prisoner suspected of stealing sex toys and other items from a police chief's vehicle. ", In 2016, Bellone publicly called on Spota to step down with claims that Spota was "operating a criminal enterprise that must be stopped.". Some police officers were in the interrogation room when Burke walked in and punched Loeb, prosecutors said. Spota, who served as DA for more than a decade before stepping down in 2017, worked to protect Burke by telling detectives who witnessed the assault to stay quiet as the feds probed the incident. Machine, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota sworn in, Suffolk County Board of Elections: 2009 Election Official Results, Testimony of Mr. Thomas Spota, Suffolk County District Attorney, September 9, 2003, "Prosecutor: Convicted killer may be tied to more NY slayings", "James Burke, Ex-Suffolk County Police Chief, Pleads Guilty", "Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota Indicted In 2012 Police Brutality Cover-up", "DA in New York is accused of obstructing probe into beating of suspect by former police chief", "Ex-Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota found guilty of protecting ex-chief who bashed porn thief", "Former Suffolk DA disbarred from practice of law due to conviction", Suffolk County District Attorney's office, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Spota&oldid=1126141669, Politicians from Suffolk County, New York, St. John's University School of Law alumni, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 December 2022, at 19:31. He always had a soft spot for a police officer named James Burke, who rose under his tutelage to become the countys chief of police. Acting Eastern District U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said in a statement after Tuesday's sentencing hearing that justice had been served after "reprehensible violations of the public trust" by the defendants. A federal grand jury investigation into the Loeb assault as a civil rights deprivation was opened by the U.S. Attorneys Brooklyn Office, with the assistance of the FBI, in the spring of 2013. "Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland are guilty of ruining the lives of so many . First Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann said Spota and McPartland got what they deserved. While doing so, Azrack said Spota did "incalculable damage" to the criminal justice system after "not a momentary lapse" in judgment but a yearslong conspiracy that included threats against witnesses. Spota, McPartland convicted on all counts in federal - Newsday They golfed together and drank together. Mr. Hickey decided to plead guilty to his role in the conspiracy and cooperated with prosecutors as their star witness, testifying on the stand for three days. But Thomas J. Spota, the district attorney in New Yorks Suffolk County, had an Achilles heel. United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad2/Handdowns/2020/Decisions/D62922.pdf, "Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota resigning Friday after allegedly covering up police chief beating", "Spota, under indictment, finishes DA career under cloud of cover-up charges", "A scandal sent a Long Island police chief to prison. Both men denied the charges, multiple reports said. Loeb was paid $1.5 million after he filed a federal lawsuit against Suffolk County, a report by 1010wins said. The sentences stem from the defendants December 17, 2019 convictions following a six-week federal jury trial; they were convicted on all four counts of the indictment including conspiracy to tamper with witnesses and obstruct an official proceeding; witness tampering; obstruction of justice; and being accessories after-the-fact to former Suffolk County Police Department Chief of Department James Burkes "deprivation of a prisoners civil rights," the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of New York said in a release. A four-count indictment was returned this morning by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Thomas J. Spota, the Suffolk County District Attorney, and Christopher McPartland, the Chief of Investigations and Chief of the Government Corruption Bureau of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office (SCDAO), with (1) Conspiracy to . Burke, Spota and McPartland used the power and influence of their official positions, and the threat of retaliatory arrest and prosecution, to keep anyone from cooperating with that investigation. Prosecutors said the two of them, along with other officials, were able to punish people who challenged their authority. Spota represented Burke years later as a private attorney when Burke faced internal police discipline after 1995 allegations which were substantiated that Burke engaged in sex acts with a known prostitute in police vehicles and failed to safeguard his service weapon. Ex-prosecutor sentenced to 5 years in suspect abuse scandal He was smiling. McPartland, who worked directly under Spota, also had built a close friendship with Burke, and was the first person who Burke called the morning he discovered that his vehicle had been burglarized. Lock Chief investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst on crime, corruption and terrorism. Mr. Spota said that if one police officer cooperated, Hell never work here again and I will see to it, according to Mr. Hickeys testimony. With todays sentences, justice has been served and the defendants have learned the consequences of their crimes, just like anyone else who has broken the law.". Main Office This culture of corruption has had a real and profound impact. Former Suffolk DA Thomas Spota, ex-top aide now in prison, federal Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota and Christopher McPartland, the former Chief of Investigations and Chief of the Government Corruption Bureau of the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office (SCDAO), were each sentenced today by United States District Judge Joan M. Azrack, to five years in prison. Former Suffolk County DA Tom Spota, Aide Set For Sentencing The anonymous communication had issued a warning about Burkes internal affairs history, and made reference to a prostitute stealing Burkes service weapon. The judge told Spota to surrender to prison officials on Dec. 10 and also sentenced him to pay a $100,000 fine. ", He added that at the time he called for the resignation, "Tom Spota's power was at its peak and their criminal enterprise was in full swing. In 2003, Spota indicted twelve Suffolk residents who used KaZaA, a file-sharing program to spread child pornography. Former Suffolk County DA Tom Spota was sentenced Tuesday following his 2019 conviction for helping cover for ex-police Chief James Burke. [15][16] Spota resigned from office on November 10, 2017. Loeb spoke to the judge before Spota and McPartland were sentenced. Word of a reopened probe panicked Spota, according to Hickeys testimony. In December 2012, then-Chief of the SCPD, James Burke the highest-ranking uniformed police official in Suffolk County physically and verbally assaulted a shackled prisoner, Christopher Loeb, who was under arrest and being held in an interrogation room at the 4th Precinct in Hauppauge, New York. He won election after election for 15 years with bipartisan support. Spota's career ended with his disbarment in 2020 and his sentencing to five years in federal prison in 2021. During a meeting that year, Mr. McPartland speculated about who the rat was. I met with Joselo, the brother. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. "Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland are guilty of ruining the lives of so many other families. Mr. Spota viewed Mr. Burke almost as a son, standing with him whenever he was touched by scandal. McPartland was also part of the pressure campaign to get cops to cover for the chief. Bad Cop, Worse Cop: James Burke and the Overwhelming Stench of Prosecutors produced calendar entries and call records that they said showed Mr. Hickey was telling the truth. McPartland, who also is serving a five-year sentence, is incarcerated at Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex in Texas, according to the newspaper. Previously, he served as news editor of Stony Brooks student newspaper, The Statesman, and was a member of the campuss chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. "Instead of serving the people of Suffolk County, these defendants brazenly abused their exceptional positions of power and public trust to protect their friends and hurt their enemies. The defense also claimed during the trial that there was no way Spota or McPartland tried to hide Burkes role in Loebs beating because Burke never confessed to them before admitting his guilt in federal court. At an August 2015 meeting involving some of the people involved in the alleged cover-up, prosecutors said, McPartland warned that Loeb "did not get beaten badly and there were no marks and that nothing would happen as long as the people that were in the room with (Loeb) did not talk. [14] In October 2017, Spota and an aide were indicted on charges of obstructing the investigation of James Burke for police brutality. Apr 26, 2018 at 8:20 pm. "The verdict today confirms what I said on May 12, 2016 when I stood on the steps of the district attorney's office calling on him to resign that Tom Spota, along with Christopher McPartland, was running a criminal enterprise out of the district attorney's office," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in 2019. /. Mr. Burke, 55, had already pleaded guilty in 2016 to the assault and the subsequent cover-up, a year after resigning from the force. Former Suffolk DA Thomas Spota, Ex-Aide Convicted Of Covering Up In it, Spota raved about Burkes "outstanding leadership" in response to an anonymous letter that had surfaced as selection was underway for a new police chief. A federal jury on Tuesday convicted former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota and one of his ex-chief aides, Christopher McPartland, of felony charges related to the attempted cover-up of a. On Tuesday, Mr. Spota, 78, was convicted of participating in a yearslong conspiracy to cover up for Mr. Burke after he violently beat a man accused of stealing from him while he was the police chief. McPartland was also sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday. Together, Mr. Spota, Mr. McPartland and Chief Burke controlled what amounted to a law-enforcement fiefdom in the eastern half of Long Island, prosecutors said. Instead of serving the people of Suffolk County, these defendants brazenly abused their exceptional positions of power and public trust to protect their friends and hurt their enemies. The trouble started one morning in December 2012, when Chief Burke discovered somebody had broken into his police car. He entered private law practice in Suffolk, representing clients including the Suffolk Detectives Association and other law enforcement unions.[7]. The verdict was a hard-fought victory for the federal prosecutors and the F.B.I., whose investigation faced setbacks for years. ", He added that at the time he called for the resignation: "Tom Spota's power was at its peak and their criminal enterprise was in full swing. ", "The actions of these defendants represent the worst of law enforcement," said Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini Tuesday. Ultimately, the 12 jurors chose to believe Mr. Hickey. Advertisement. The cover-up of Chief Burkes assault, witnesses at trial said, was part of a broader pattern. The star prosecution witness said during the trial that he began drinking while under extreme pressure to keep his intelligence unit detectives quiet about the Loeb beating. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Boeckmann, Lara Treinis Gatz, Justina L. Geraci and Michael R. Maffei are in charge of the prosecution. [2][3][4] Spota was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to five years in federal prison and fined $100,000 . He told jurors Spota grilled him on who he suspected had "flipped," or started cooperating with federal officials. Prosecutors said Spota and McPartland did "the exact opposite" of their jobs so they could protect Burke in a nefarious plot aimed at maintaining a power structure controlled by those who believed they were above the law. United States Attorneys Office Mr. Spota set out to protect and defend Chief Burke, as he had before over a 40-year friendship, prosecutors said. "Somebodys talking. Krantz cited what he said was McPartlands history of public service and good deeds, calling him a loving husband and father and someone who worked his way through college and law school before earning accolades throughout his career. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Thomas Spota, the longtime district attorney of Suffolk County, Long Island, was accused of conspiring with the county police chief and a top deputy in the DA's office to pressure witnesses to . Former Long Island Prosecutor Begins Prison Sentence All rights reserved. When Mr. Cuffs son was caught with a gun, the district attorneys office threatened to upgrade the charges from a misdemeanor to a felony. The jury deliberated for nearly a full day before returning the guilty verdict. Then in 2001, Mr. Spota, who switched parties from Republican to Democratic, was elected district attorney. Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota and Government Corruption Bureau Chief Christopher McPartland Each Sentenced to Five Years in Prison Tuesday, August 10, 2021 For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York The Defendants Were Convicted of Obstructing a Federal Civil Rights Investigation "Their conduct has devastated many people individually, deprived Suffolk residents of what they deserve from public officials, and was a disservice to all the honest, hardworking men and women of law enforcement. There is absolutely no place for this type of behavior within our criminal justice system. Having served as the Suffolk County D.A. ", Sini added that the defendants' actions represented "the worst of law enforcement," while saying their actions "devastated many people individually" and "deprived Suffolk residents of what they deserve from public officials.". Burke became a Suffolk cop and was promoted to sergeant; a 1995 department probe found that he had a sexual relationship with a prostitute who sold drugs, according to Newsday. Northport, New York, John Marzulli 271 Cadman Plaza East Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, former New York City correction officer Katrina Patterson was sentenced by United States District Judge Carol B. Amon to a year and a As alleged, the defendant violated his duty as a correction officer and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle contraband into the Metropolitan Detention Center, stated United Mackey has been found guilty by a jury of his peers of attempting to deprive individuals from exercising their sacred right to vote for the candidate of their choice in Eastern District of New York document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Scandal Began With Sex Toys. Now Ex-D.A. Is Convicted on Long Island. The judge said in a ruling last week that the imprisonment range both defendants were facing under federal guidelines was between 57 and 71 months in prison. Chief Assistant US Attorney Nicole Boeckmann had argued for prison for Spota, saying he had failed to take responsibility for his actions to this day. Burke pleaded guilty to civil rights violations and conspiracy to obstruct justice in February of 2016 and was sentenced to 46 months in prison. "Burke, Spota and McPartland used the power and influence of their official positions, and the threat of retaliatory arrest and prosecution, to keep anyone from cooperating with that investigation," federal officials said in the release. It was testimony from James Hickey, a retired Suffolk police lieutenant, that formed the heart of the governments case. Victims' Families Demand Stiffer Sentences For Hit-And-Run Killers In When a sitting District Attorney and one of his top prosecutors are corrupt and use their power to intimidate witnesses and cover up a brutal assault by a high-ranking law enforcement official, they not only jeopardize the safety of citizens who are entitled to the protection of the law, they also undermine confidence in the integrity and fairness of our criminal justice system, Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said.

Oklahoma City University Musical Theatre, Are Eddie And Amed Rosario Related, Articles T