Post by onthejob on May 1, 2013 15:08:37 GMT -5
Retired Deputy Chief John Hunter pleads guilty in police misconduct case
May 1, 2013 by WILLIAM MURPHY / william.murphy@newsday.com
A former high-ranking Nassau County police official pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he conspired with two colleagues to stop the arrest of a prominent police fundraiser's son.
Retired Deputy Chief of Patrol John Hunter pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors -- two counts of official misconduct and one count of conspiracy -- and was sentenced to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service. He also agreed to make a training video for incoming police recruits, and will be allowed to keep his permit to carry a firearm.
Earlier this year, Second Deputy Commissioner William Flanagan was convicted of the same three misdemeanors at trial.
Hunter, Flanagan and retired Seventh Precinct Squad Deputy Cmdr. Alan Sharpe conspired to stop the arrest of Zachary Parker, who was suspected in the theft of about $11,000 of electronic equipment from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in May 2009, prosecutors said. Parker was ultimately charged and later pleaded guilty.
Hunter, 60, and Flanagan, 55, have since resigned, and Sharpe, 55, retired. Sharpe, who pleaded not guilty, has yet to go to trial.
Flanagan went to trial first, in a case that pitted Nassau's top prosecutors against some of its top current and former police brass.
He was found guilty in February of the three misdemeanors and found not guilty of the only felony he was charged with, receiving an award for official misconduct.
Flanagan could face up to a year in jail on the misdemeanors when he is sentenced. If he had been convicted of the top charge, he could have faced up to 4 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Flanagan improperly used his influence to get police to return electronics equipment to John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in 2009 after Zachary Parker, son of police benefactor Gary Parker, stole it.
Gary Parker repaid the favor by giving Flanagan two $100 gift cards to Morton's steak house and a state-of-the-art flashlight, prosecutors said.
At trial Flanagan's defense attorney argued it was not illegal for police to return stolen property to the owner, and that there was no evidence that Flanagan asked anyone not to arrest Zachary Parker.
Zachary Parker was never arrested by police, but prosecutors later presented his case to a grand jury, which indicted him. He later pleaded guilty to burglary charges and is serving 1 to 3 years in prison.
A Nassau police officer testified at Flanagan's trial that a chief in the department asked him to call his aunt, a high school principal, and "put in a good word for" the son of a police benefactor who had stolen electronics equipment from her school.
Kyle Poppe said he was "shocked," when Hunter, then deputy chief of patrol, texted him in May 2009 and asked him to get in touch.
Hunter then asked Poppe to contact his aunt, Lorraine Poppe, principal of John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore. Lorraine Poppe has testified she was asked to sign a form declaring the school would not press theft charges against Zachary Parker.
"He wanted me to talk to my aunt to put in a good word for this young man," Kyle Poppe testified.
Earlier in the trial, Gary Parker testified he had confided to Hunter, a close friend, about his son's theft, and asked Hunter to put in a good word for his son.
Hunter's lawyer, William Petrillo, of Rockville Centre, said at the time that Kyle Poppe's testimony was not evidence of any crime. "There has not been one witness, including Officer Poppe, who said anything that suggests any criminality at all."
Kyle Poppe testified that he refused the request. "I said she is not the type of person to be influenced," he testified.
Flanagan had maintained he did not try to influence whether Zachary Parker was prosecuted, but simply helped to get the equipment returned to the school. Flanagan said this is something he would have done for anyone, not just Gary Parker, who he concedes was a friend.
May 1, 2013 by WILLIAM MURPHY / william.murphy@newsday.com
A former high-ranking Nassau County police official pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he conspired with two colleagues to stop the arrest of a prominent police fundraiser's son.
Retired Deputy Chief of Patrol John Hunter pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors -- two counts of official misconduct and one count of conspiracy -- and was sentenced to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service. He also agreed to make a training video for incoming police recruits, and will be allowed to keep his permit to carry a firearm.
Earlier this year, Second Deputy Commissioner William Flanagan was convicted of the same three misdemeanors at trial.
Hunter, Flanagan and retired Seventh Precinct Squad Deputy Cmdr. Alan Sharpe conspired to stop the arrest of Zachary Parker, who was suspected in the theft of about $11,000 of electronic equipment from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in May 2009, prosecutors said. Parker was ultimately charged and later pleaded guilty.
Hunter, 60, and Flanagan, 55, have since resigned, and Sharpe, 55, retired. Sharpe, who pleaded not guilty, has yet to go to trial.
Flanagan went to trial first, in a case that pitted Nassau's top prosecutors against some of its top current and former police brass.
He was found guilty in February of the three misdemeanors and found not guilty of the only felony he was charged with, receiving an award for official misconduct.
Flanagan could face up to a year in jail on the misdemeanors when he is sentenced. If he had been convicted of the top charge, he could have faced up to 4 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Flanagan improperly used his influence to get police to return electronics equipment to John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in 2009 after Zachary Parker, son of police benefactor Gary Parker, stole it.
Gary Parker repaid the favor by giving Flanagan two $100 gift cards to Morton's steak house and a state-of-the-art flashlight, prosecutors said.
At trial Flanagan's defense attorney argued it was not illegal for police to return stolen property to the owner, and that there was no evidence that Flanagan asked anyone not to arrest Zachary Parker.
Zachary Parker was never arrested by police, but prosecutors later presented his case to a grand jury, which indicted him. He later pleaded guilty to burglary charges and is serving 1 to 3 years in prison.
A Nassau police officer testified at Flanagan's trial that a chief in the department asked him to call his aunt, a high school principal, and "put in a good word for" the son of a police benefactor who had stolen electronics equipment from her school.
Kyle Poppe said he was "shocked," when Hunter, then deputy chief of patrol, texted him in May 2009 and asked him to get in touch.
Hunter then asked Poppe to contact his aunt, Lorraine Poppe, principal of John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore. Lorraine Poppe has testified she was asked to sign a form declaring the school would not press theft charges against Zachary Parker.
"He wanted me to talk to my aunt to put in a good word for this young man," Kyle Poppe testified.
Earlier in the trial, Gary Parker testified he had confided to Hunter, a close friend, about his son's theft, and asked Hunter to put in a good word for his son.
Hunter's lawyer, William Petrillo, of Rockville Centre, said at the time that Kyle Poppe's testimony was not evidence of any crime. "There has not been one witness, including Officer Poppe, who said anything that suggests any criminality at all."
Kyle Poppe testified that he refused the request. "I said she is not the type of person to be influenced," he testified.
Flanagan had maintained he did not try to influence whether Zachary Parker was prosecuted, but simply helped to get the equipment returned to the school. Flanagan said this is something he would have done for anyone, not just Gary Parker, who he concedes was a friend.