thomas spota daughter

Police officers who received subpoenas from the FBI were interrogated afterward by Burke's allies about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. Spota, who spent 15 years at the top of Suffolk's law and order structure before his 2017 federal indictment, said in the Central Islip courtroom that his conviction marked "the lowest point" in his life one he fears will become his legacy. This culture of corruption has had a real and profound impact. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community. "[12] "I hope not to die in prison alone," the 79-year-old Spota told U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack before hearing his penalty, calling his conviction "the lowest point" in his life and saying he feared and expected it would be his legacy. 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. Thomas Spota was the prosecutor. 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. 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. In 2001, Spota won his first election as district attorney with the backing of police unions while campaigning on an anti-corruption platform. 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.". Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota was sentenced to 5 years behind bars. Mr. Hickey testified that he was ordered to instruct his men to deny, deny, deny. Mr. Spota and the others involved in the cover-up handpicked one of the three officers, Anthony Leto, to lie under oath about the assault during a court hearing, Mr. Hickey said. Word of a reopened probe panicked Spota, according to Hickeys testimony. Spota and McPartland tried to cover for Suffolk Police Chief James Burke after the top cop attacked a cuffed prisoner. 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." [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]. 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. 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. 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. The convictions of Mr. Spota and Mr. McPartland make it clear that the days of Long Islands good old boy networks combining politics, power and policing to benefit a select few, at the expense of the taxpaying public, are dead and gone, said Richard Donoghue, the United States attorney in the Eastern District of New York. Chief investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst on crime, corruption and terrorism. 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. Proving obstruction of justice required the government to present evidence that the defendants acted with a corrupt purpose, a high legal bar. 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. This culture of corruption has had a real and profound impact. Loeb was paid $1.5 million after he filed a federal lawsuit against Suffolk County, a report by 1010wins said. 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. Mr. Spotas lawyer, Alan Vinegrad, declined to comment on the verdict. But Thomas J. Spota, the district attorney in New Yorks Suffolk County, had an Achilles heel. Despite that,. When they are sentenced, Spota and McPartland will face up to 20 years in prison. 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. I met with the daughter. Burke physically and verbally assaulted a shackled prisoner, Christopher Loeb, in an interrogation room in Hauppauge after Loeb broke into Burkes police vehicle and stole his gun belt and ammunition, and several personal items including cigars, sex toys and pornography. He also said Spota recently was given an "uncertain" medical prognosis but didn't provide further details. Spota, 80, is now an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. She ordered McPartland to surrender on Nov. 10. He repeatedly promoted Mr. Burke in the Police Department, consolidating their power. The verdict was a hard-fought victory for the federal prosecutors and the F.B.I., whose investigation faced setbacks for years. 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. They're guilty," Loeb wrote on Facebook in 2019. McPartland was also sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday. He graduated from Chaminade High School, a private Catholic school in Mineola, New York. 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. 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. The former chief pleaded guilty to reduced charges in February 2016. "Somebodys talking. James Burke, center, the former Suffolk County police chief, pleaded guilty in 2016 to the assault of a man who had broken into his police car and the subsequent cover-up. 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. Spota and McPartlands trial became the first time that some of those involved in Loebs assault spoke about it publicly, with two of the three detectives who took part in the beating with Burke testifying about the police brutality and how the pressure to keep quiet later changed their lives and careers. They ruined lives and destroyed careers. McPartland also asked the judge to consider how a severe punishment would impact his family and the suffering he said they already have endured. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It was written by Murphy. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. 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. 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.". 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 . 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. Mr. 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. Azrack explained Tuesday that she was intentionally punishing the defendants with more prison time than Burke received. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann said Spota and McPartland got what they deserved. Prosecutors alleged that Spota and McPartland illegally intervened after the Dec. 14, 2012 beating. But a few months later, in early 2013, Mr. Loebs lawyer publicly accused the police of assault, triggering a civil rights investigation. Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and a former top aide, Christopher McPartland, surrendered at separate federal prisons Friday, prison officials told Newsday. Alek Lewis is a lifelong Riverhead resident and a 2021 graduate of Stony Brook Universitys School of Communication and Journalism. "Nobody should have this much power and be above the law.". There is absolutely no place for this type of behavior within our criminal justice system. Burke attacked Loeb in a police station interrogation room after Loeb was arrested for breaking into the ex-chief's unlocked, department-issued GMC Yukon and stealing a bag containing his gun belt, ammunition, a box of cigars and a bag containing sex toys and pornography. Spotas conduct, like Mr. McPartlands, was not a momentary moral lapse. Loeb was paid $1.5 million after he filed a federal lawsuit against Suffolk County, a report by 1010wins said. With great power comes great responsibility and, as weve proven throughout the course of this investigation, Mr. Spota and Mr. McPartland abused their power to skirt the irresponsibility to comply with a federal civil rights investigation. Disgraced former Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota landed five years in prison Tuesday for obstructing a federal investigation into a cover-up involving sex toys, assault and a top local . Christopher McPartland, right, leaving his trial last month in Central Islip, N.Y. The thief took a duffel bag from the car that contained sex toys, a pornographic DVD and Viagra. He said he feared he or his family would be falsely accused of a crime if he testified honestly about Loebs beating. 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.". Bellone said his actions were inspired by reports of political corruption in the district attorney's office. Azrack said no one is above the law. Vinegrad described Spota in a court filing as a "shattered man" whose age, declining health and record of public service supported a no-prison sentence. Uli Seit for The New. Mr. McPartland helped concoct a cover story that Chief Burke had just popped his head in to the interrogation room. "To see any old man live the rest of his life in a prison cell, possibly dying in jail, that kinda sucks but you have to be accountable for what you did," Loeb added after court. Among the successful cases prosecuted by his office was the conviction in May 2017 of John Bittrolff, a Manorville carpenter charged with the homicides of prostitutes Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee, whose bodies were found on area South Shore beaches in 1993 and 1994, respectively. 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. But he insisted his memory wasnt compromised by his drinking and that he never consumed alcohol after his 2013 hospital discharge. He described it as a coalition of five high-powered, corrupt insiders who were behind the cover-up and would take collective aim to discredit and punish their enemies. The U.S. attorney's office also argued that the defendants hadn't accepted responsibility for their actions and deserved more time in prison than sentencing guidelines recommended because of "the need for deterrence" and the "egregiousness" of their actions. No sales tax increase for clean water initiative: government must find another way, Holidays open the floodgates of family memories, March is an awareness month that hits home. He told jurors Spota grilled him on who he suspected had "flipped," or started cooperating with federal officials. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, Earth warming likely to pass limit set by international leaders, Street racing hit-and run crash leaves woman dead, man hurt in Brooklyn, police say, Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts. The remains of at least ten persons have been found on South Shore beaches, and are believed to be related. Thomas J. Spota, the Suffolk County district attorney, and his top anti-corruption prosecutor were charged on . McPartland was also part of the pressure campaign to get cops to cover for the chief. Anyone can read what you share. Spota's career ended with his disbarment in 2020 and his sentencing to five years in federal prison in 2021. He won election after election for 15 years with bipartisan support. Spota, 79, will begin his sentence Dec. 10. ", Bellone said Suffolk District Attorney Tim Sini has "restored integrity to the office. 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.

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