March 30, 2014
New Rochelle Police Officer Admits to Misusing Badge and Cheating on Wife
By Jonathan Damashek
Posted in
Go to the main In The News pageA former police sergeant in New Rochelle admitted that he misused his badge to have sex with a seventeen-year-old girl when he was still on the force. According to news sources, this isn’t the first time the man has cheated on his wife – a local TV news anchor. “”He was a known Lothario,” one source said, “This isn’t like a one-time thing or a set-up or a bad decision. He wasn’t a nice guy.” Even still, the former police officer’s wife stood by him when he was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharged and order to stay away from the seventeen-year-old girl for five years.
Additionally, the TV co-anchor called a WABC-TV correspondent unprofessional and out of line. The correspondent told her, “I know this is an emotional time for you, but I think your anger is misplaced.” When contacted about the incident, the officer’s wife said, “[My husband] and I have a tremendous amount of love in our marriage, and we’d like to get on with our lives as a family.” The couple has three children and lives in Westchester County. The officer has worked at the New Rochelle Police Department for nine years.
After charges of first-degree rape were dropped, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charged and official misconduct in a plea bargain with case prosecutors. Allegedly, the officer raped a young mother several hours after arresting her 35-year-old boyfriend. Jonathan Damashek, a partner at Hecht Kleeger & Damashek, P.C., said, “[the officer] and his wife were saying nothing happened and trying to make my client out to be a liar. No longer can they make these misrepresentations.” According to the New Rochelle Police Commissioner, the officer resigned from his job at the department sometime after the incident.