thomas spota daughter

Having served as the Suffolk County D.A. Later that morning, a man was arrested with the stolen goods. In December 2012, then-chief of the SCPD, James Burke "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," a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Spota and McPartland were convicted in December 2019 on counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and civil rights violations. The sentences stem from the defendants December 17, 2019 convictions, following a six-week federal jury trial, on all four counts of the Indictment; specifically, of 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 (SCPD) Chief of Department James Burkes deprivation of a prisoners civil rights. This culture of corruption has had a real and profound impact. 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. There is absolutely no place for this type of behavior within our criminal justice system. The resulting scandal eventually engulfed the countys law enforcement power structure. A jury found them guilty of witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy after they pressured witnesses not to cooperate with an FBI investigation into the 2012 assault, abc7ny.com said. Burke pleaded guilty to civil rights violations and conspiracy to obstruct justice in February of 2016 and was sentenced to 46 months in prison. They're guilty," Loeb wrote on Facebook in 2019. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. He was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and conspiracy charges in December 2019 [17] and disbarred in June 2020. LONG ISLAND, NY Former Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota, 79, and his chief investigator, found guilty of obstruction by a jury in 2019 for covering up an incident during which a man. U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack meted out the penalties after a jury previously found Spota and Christopher McPartland, his former anti-corruption chief, tried to conceal that brutality and impede a federal probe to protect then-Police Chief James Burke. Scandal Began With Sex Toys. A Long Island jury on Tuesday found former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota guilty of obstructing a federal probe into a police chief who bashed a handcuffed prisoner over stolen porn . /. Local law enforcement eyewitnesses had been frightened into silence, as they feared retaliation against themselves and their families from within the Suffolk County Police Department and the District Attorneys Office.". McPartland also asked the judge to consider how a severe punishment would impact his family and the suffering he said they already have endured. 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. A federal grand jury investigation into the Loeb assault as "a civil rightsdeprivation" was opened by the U.S. Attorneys Brooklyn Office, with the assistance of the FBI,in the spring of 2013, the release said. It was written by Murphy. The survival of local journalism depends on your support. United States Attorneys Office Is Convicted on Long Island. The disbarred lawyer, who will turn 80 next month, also shared a simple wish: "I hope not to die in prison alone," Spota told the judge. ', Long Island Siblings Saved By Heart Transplants Beat COVID. Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Jacqueline Maguire, acting assistant director-in-charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the sentences. Spota later hired Burke to work in his office as an investigator, promoted him to chief investigator, and vouched for him when he was appointed chief of the police department, one of the largest suburban forces in the country with 2,500 officers. US Eastern District Judge Joan Azrack handed down the 60-month stint behind bars and $100,000 in fines for the 79-year-old Spota aftera jury found the ex-district attorney guiltyof charges ranging from conspiracy to witness-tampering in 2019. Alek Lewis is a lifelong Riverhead resident and a 2021 graduate of Stony Brook Universitys School of Communication and Journalism. A federal appeals court found Wednesday that nurses who abruptly resigned from a Smithtown facility in 2006 over working conditions, then faced child-endangerment charges that were thrown out,. Rather, he engaged in a years-long cover-up.. With many big projects about to seek agency benefits, the answer is critical. "These sentences send the right message to the public, that they can have faith in their criminal justice system, that the system is not broken and that corrupt police officers cannot and will not be protected by power-hungry prosecutors," she said. The testimony exposed an alarming culture of corruption and retribution in a county with about 2,500 police officers, one of the largest police departments in the United States. Azrack said no one is above the law. Spota and McPartland both resigned from the District Attorneys Office in light of the charges against them and have since been disbarred. He and Mr. Spota each face up to 20 years in prison. I met with Joselo, the brother. Burke was eventually found guilty in the incident andsentenced to 46 months in prison. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Boeckmann, Lara Treinis Gatz, Justina L. Geraci and Michael R. Maffei are in charge of the prosecution. They ruined lives and destroyed careers. That decision would cost Mr. Spota his career and turn him into a convicted criminal. Spota and McPartland were successful in thwarting the investigation at first, until the case was reopened and witnesses were able to testify when granted immunity. The pair face up to 20 years in prison but will likely receive lower sentences due to federal guidelines, according to Newsday. Spota was convicted of witness tampering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy, and he must report to prison by December 10. Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota was sentenced to 5 years behind bars. Burke pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation and conspiracy to obstruct justicein February, 2016 and was sentenced to 46 months imprisonment; Spota and McPartland bothresigned from the District Attorneys Office in light of the charges against them and have sincebeen disbarred, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Christopher McPartland, right, leaving his trial last month in Central Islip, N.Y. All rights reserved. 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. Without recordings of conversations, the trial hinged largely on the testimony of one witness: James Hickey, a former police commander who worked in Mr. Spotas inner circle. Mr. Spota set out to protect and defend Chief Burke, as he had before over a 40-year friendship, prosecutors said. 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. Uli Seit for The New. Ex-Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota sentenced to 60 months in prison and $100K fine for obstructing a federal civil rights investigation. 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. You have not heard an apology, Boeckmann said. .We need to remain focused on continuing our progress and ensuring that the days of the past never happen again.. 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. He graduated from Chaminade High School, a private Catholic school in Mineola, New York. Police officers who were supposed to investigate gangs and school shootings would be diverted to help their chief with petty vendettas and mundane tasks, like spying on his girlfriends or driving him to the airport, former officers testified. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, a jury found the ex-district attorney guilty, Off-duty NYPD cop dies after LI car crash: sources, LI bouncer covered security camera before brutal beating that led to bar patrons death, Long Island nurse arrested after slamming newborn into bassinet: Suffolk DA, Here are the wild animals that a NY lawmaker wants to ban from homes. ", "The actions of these defendants represent the worst of law enforcement," said Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini Tuesday. This story has been shared 137,412 times. Main Office Apr 26, 2018 at 8:20 pm. [5], Spota was born in 1941 and grew up in New Hyde Park, New York, on Long Island. [18] Spota's sentencing was delayed multiple times but he was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison and a $100,000 fine on August 10, 2021.[5]. Approximately one year later, prosecutors from U.S. Attorneys Long Island Criminal Division reopened the investigation. Having served as the Suffolk County DA for over a decade, Spota had successfully helped Burke avoid legal trouble regularly during their decades-long friendship. [1] "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. Mount Sinai, New York, CHRISTOPHER McPARTLAND First Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann said in court Tuesday that Spota still hadn't apologized for actions that had "an absolute chilling effect" on the county's criminal justice system and implored the judge to impose prison time. This story was reported by Nicole Fuller, Bridget Murphy and Michael O'Keeffe. The government also claimed McPartland was the "architect of the lies," helping Burke craft a story about Loeb being a "junkie thief" who fabricated his tale of an assault a script everyone who became part of the conspiracy had to follow. Lock Is the Riverhead IDA serving the publics interest? Official websites use .gov "Because of their obstructive efforts, the federal investigation was unsuccessful and was closed approximately eight months later. But Spota, who knew of Burkes police disciplinary history, responded to the allegation by saying Burkes off-duty firearm was taken in a pattern of burglaries in his neighborhood, prosecutors told jurors. The federal judge said prosecutors have enormous power over life, liberty and reputation, but the defendants substantially abused that power by helping to cover up Loeb's assault, forcing detectives to lie to a grand jury and prosecutors and thwarting a grand jury investigation. A locked padlock Loeb, the abused prisoner, also spoke in court Tuesday, telling the judge that Spota "should spend the rest of his life behind bars." 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 Mr. Spotas lawyer, Alan Vinegrad, declined to comment on the verdict. Senator John Flanagan (2 nd Senate District) and Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota joined the families of four men and women killed by hit-and-run drivers to renew the call to increase the maximum punishment for those convicted of that crime from 7 to 15 years imprisonment. Email: alek@riverheadlocal.com. This story has been shared 121,843 times. The judge told Spota to surrender to prison officials on Dec. 10 and also sentenced him to pay a $100,000 fine. 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 the prosecution painted Spota as someone who compromised his ethics to protect his loyal protg after a nearly four-decade relationship that started when Burke, at 14, was the star witness for Spota in 1979 as he prosecuted another teenagers suffocation murder. There were some bombshells dropped Thursday in the obstruction of justice trial of former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota and his top aide Christopher McPartland, including an allegation that former chief James Burke ordered officers to spy on Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Anyone can read what you share. Spota and McPartland helped to ensure witnesses of Burkes crimes using threats against themselves and their families during a U.S. grand jury investigation into Burkes deprivation of Loebs civil rights. . Despite that,. Anthony Leto testified at the trial that Burke punched, kneed and shook Loeb during the beating he also took part in, with Burke also threatening to give Loeb a "hot shot" or deadly drug dose. The man in custody, Christopher Loeb, was a heroin user with a long criminal record. LONG ISLAND, NY Former Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota, 79, and his chief investigator, found guilty of obstruction by a jury in 2019 for covering up an incident during which a man was beaten after he stole a duffel bag from a former police chief filled with sex toys and pornography were each sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday, federal officials said. Word of a reopened probe panicked Spota, according to Hickeys testimony. 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. ", In 2016, Bellone publicly called on Spota to step down with claims that Spota was "operating a criminal enterprise that must be stopped.". Loeb was paid $1.5 million after he filed a federal lawsuit against Suffolk County, a report by 1010wins said. The former official in Suffolk County was found guilty of conspiracy after a trial that exposed a culture of corruption. Spota recommended a new federal task force and said that legislation was needed to "attack the owners and the distributors of these programs, who are reaping enormous profits. He told jurors Spota grilled him on who he suspected had "flipped," or started cooperating with federal officials. Thomas J. Spota III (born 1941, New York) is a former American attorney and politician, who served as the District Attorney of Suffolk County, New York, serving from 2002 to late 2017, but was disbarred on June 10, 2020. The verdict was a hard-fought victory for the federal prosecutors and the F.B.I., whose investigation faced setbacks for years. Triple Five, Calvertons developer, launches a review of rail options, Man Caught With Stolen Vehicle In Riverhead: Police, Search On For Suspects Wanted In Attempted Armed Robbery: PD, Take better care of your bones Join HSS for a new webinar on 5/3, JOB Needed as live-in companion/caregiver as of 5/1/23 (Suffolk County), Learn to restore physically & emotionally with Energy Healing, 'Crystals For A Cause' Benefits Greenport's Miniature Railroad Project, Minimum Wage Would Increase On Long Island Under $229B Budget Deal, Pet Adoption In The Riverhead Area: See New Local Dogs, Cats & More, Riverhead Job Openings: See Who's Hiring In The Area, Ex-Batmobile Replica Maker Has New Space To Continue Dream After Fire, LI Cat Missing For 2 Years Found In Time For Christmas: 'She Is Home! Federal prosecutors hinted at Spota and McPartland's alleged involvement in the cover up prior to Burke's sentencing, writing in court papers that "high-ranking officials" from other Suffolk County agencies had helped the former chief silence potential whistleblowers. ALSO READ | Street racing hit-and run crash leaves woman dead, man hurt in Brooklyn, police say. In addition to pressuring people not to cooperate, they asked witnesses to provide investigators with false information and withhold relevant information from investigators, federal prosecutors said. Spota's attorney, Alan Vinegrad, told the judge his client is "a shadow" of his former self and a "fundamentally good" person who is devoted to his wife of 51 years, his three children and his grandchildren. Former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota and a former top aide, Christopher McPartland, joined the ranks of the nation's incarcerated felons Friday after surrendering at separate federal. Eyewitness News has learned it appears Spota and McPartland will appeal their sentences. Thomas Spota, the former Suffolk County. "Ive also left them with a shattered legacy and the stain of being a convicted felon," the former district attorney said. Thomas Spota allegedly conspired with Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke and a top deputy in the DA's office to pressure witnesses to not cooperate with an FBI investigation into the 2012. 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. "Loeb had broken into Burkes official police vehicle and stolen his gun belt and ammunition, and a duffel bag containing cigars, sex toys, prescription Viagra and pornography.". The obstruction initially worked, thwarting federal agents for several months. The jurors reached the guilty verdict after deliberating for about seven hours over two days. Published September 22, 2021 at 5:02 PM EDT. Police officers who received subpoenas from the FBI were interrogated afterward by Burke's allies about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. Mr. Burke, 55, had already pleaded guilty in 2016 to the assault and the subsequent cover-up, a year after resigning from the force. According to federal prosecutors, Spota, McPartland, Burke and other police officers met and spoke by phone to discuss how to conceal Burke's role in the assault on Loeb. Burke also enlisted the help of his long-time mentor, then-District Attorney Spota, and McPartland, his personal friend and then-Chief of both Investigations and the Government Corruption Bureau, to ensure that the witnesses kept quiet. 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. Copyright 2023 Newsday. I met with them after the indictments and before it was announced publicly what the results of the indictment were. Thomas J. Spota, the former district attorney in Suffolk County, N.Y., was found guilty on Tuesday of four counts, including obstruction of justice and witness tampering. In contrast, the U.S. attorneys office had sought 8-year sentences for both defendants. "These sentences send the right message to the public that they can have faith in their criminal justice system - that the system is not broken," she said. Thomas Spota and one his top aides in the Suffolk County district attorney's office, Christopher McPartland, were convicted in December 2019 on counts of conspiracy, obstruction of . After the assault, Burke ordered high-ranking lieutenants of the SCPD to ensure that the detectives and officers who had witnessed the assault would never reveal what they had observed. An official website of the United States government. 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. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. ", 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.". Spota was convicted in December 2019 on federal charges of conspiracy . 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. She found that sentencing enhancements should apply because Spota and McPartland abused their positions of public trust, substantially interfered with the administration of justice, held leadership roles and committed crimes extensive in scope and planning. CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. He was one of the most powerful men on Long Island, serving as the top prosecutor in a suburban county with 1.5 million people. Now Ex-D.A. Mr. Leto told jurors that he feared if he were truthful, the police chief would falsely accuse his sons of a crime or plant drugs on them. But a few months later, in early 2013, Mr. Loebs lawyer publicly accused the police of assault, triggering a civil rights investigation. Spota and co-defendant Chris. Jurors delivered their verdict after about seven hours of deliberations in the sixth week of the trial, with the panels forewoman saying later in an interview that that law should apply equally to everyone. McPartland, who also is serving a five-year sentence, is incarcerated at Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex in Texas, according to the newspaper. I commend the tenacity and skill of this Office's prosecutors and the FBI special agents in toppling the defendants from their undeserved positions of prominence and in holding them to account for their reprehensible violations of the public trust.. Spota and McPartland tried to cover for Suffolk Police Chief James Burke after the top cop attacked a cuffed prisoner. [10] Bellone, the Suffolk County Executive, said outside the federal courthouse Tuesday he knew he had inherited a government in crisis when he began serving in his role a decade ago. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. This culture of corruption has had a real and profound impact. Mr. McPartland and Mr. Burke used to greet one another on the phone with a vulgar imprecation. Azrack explained Tuesday that she was intentionally punishing the defendants with more prison time than Burke received. August 10, 2021 CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) 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. During a meeting that year, Mr. McPartland speculated about who the rat was. From December 2010, his office oversaw the investigation of numerous homicides in Suffolk County, believed to have been perpetrated by a single unidentified person, known as the Long Island serial killer, or LISK. Burke pleaded guilty in 2016 to the beating and cover-up, serving most of a 46-month prison sentence before his release to a halfway house. Thomas J. Spota III (born 1941, New York) is a former American attorney and politician, who served as the District Attorney of Suffolk County, New York, serving from 2002 to late 2017, but was disbarred on June 10, 2020. No other witness testified to receiving direct orders from Mr. Spota or Mr. McPartland to obstruct the investigation, defense lawyers argued. But the good news is that this culture of corruption has been swept out of the district attorney's office and has been replaced with a culture of integrity," he added. Spota and McPartland were successful in thwarting the investigation at first, until the case was reopened and witnesses were able to testify when granted immunity. He finished his prison sentence in April. They placed fear of retaliation inside the minds of those who may otherwise have been willing to cooperate, and they interfered with efforts of federal investigators who were trying to get to the bottom of a heinous crime. 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. They have three grown children. 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. Current Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said in a statement following the sentencings, "The actions of these defendants represent the worst of law enforcement.". The administration panicked, prosecutors said. After the meeting, Chief Burke threatened that if the police detectives failed to stay in line, he would expose that Mr. Hickey was cheating on his wife, Mr. Hickey said. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York, the pair will be sentenced on August 10 at 10:30 a.m. at the courthouse in Central Islip.
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