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. He told jurors Spota grilled him on who he suspected had "flipped," or started cooperating with federal officials. Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini reflected on his predecessor's conviction Tuesday in a statement in which he said the agency he leads needs "to remain focused on continuing our progress and ensuring that the days of the past never happen again. The trouble started one morning in December 2012, when Chief Burke discovered somebody had broken into his police car. Privacy Policy |Terms of service |Subscription terms |Your ad choices |Cookie Settings |California Privacy Rights |About Us |Contact Newsday |Reprints & permissions |Advertise with Newsday |Help. "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. 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. 271 Cadman Plaza East They're guilty," Loeb wrote on Facebook in 2019. 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. Fax Line: 718-254-7508. They also presented evidence that Spota, as part of his history of covering up for Burke, wrote a 2011 letter to County Executive-elect Steve Bellones transition team. He told jurors he acted as a middleman in a yearslong conspiracy to cover-up Loebs beating after being tasked with ensuring the silence of the three detectives. Northport, New York, John Marzulli As certain key witnesses were then compelled to testify before the grand jury under a grant of immunity, the truth about Burke assaulting Loeb finally emerged. The sentencing guidelines are the subject of an oral argument set for June 30, federal officials told Patch. I met with the Mrs. Lucero, the mother. Vinegrad also raised the possibility of the former district attorney, who was vaccinated against COVID-19 becoming infected in prison and then possibly dying. Advertisement. Chief Burke thought nobody would believe his word over the police chiefs, according to witness testimony. From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. ", Bellone said Suffolk District Attorney Tim Sini has "restored integrity to the office. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and a former top aide, Christopher McPartland, surrendered at separate federal prisons Friday, prison officials told Newsday. 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 . When they are sentenced, Spota and McPartland will face up to 20 years in prison. Despite that,. [8] He was reelected in 2005,[9] and again in 2009 without any major-party opposition. Bellone said his actions were inspired by reports of political corruption in the district attorney's office. 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. ", 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. 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. ', Long Island Siblings Saved By Heart Transplants Beat COVID. The legislation Senator Flanagan sponsors has passed the Senate in both of the past two years but has died in . 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. 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. "It has been a difficult five years and I have lost a lot," the ex-prosecutor said in part. Spota was convicted in December 2019 on federal charges of conspiracy . Mr. 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. 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. Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland were convicted of obstruction of justice and other crimes for their role in a scheme to protect James Burke. 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. The jury determined Spota conspired with Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke and former anti-corruption bureau chief Christopher McPartland to pressure witnesses to not cooperate with an FBI investigation into the 2012 assault. [2][3][4] Spota was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to five years in federal prison and fined $100,000 . Both men had faced up to 20 years behind bars. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Later that morning, a man was arrested with the stolen goods. "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. Three other police detectives had been in the room participating in the beating, and it was imperative that they all stuck to the same story. According to News 12, Spota and Christoper McPartland, 54, were convicted of four felonies; one stemmed from the cover up of the assault of suspect Christopher Loeb by former Police Commissioner James Burke. 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. Uli Seit for The New York Times. Spota told a judge at his sentencing in August that, I hope not to die in prison alone.. ", (The Associated Press contributed to this report), * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts, Retaining wall collapses in the Bronx due to severe weather, Karl Lagerfeld legacy showcased in Met exhibit. He earned degrees at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and St. John's University School of Law in Jamaica, Queens, New York. 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 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.". 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. The remains of at least ten persons have been found on South Shore beaches, and are believed to be related. Testimony showed Hickey was hospitalized in 2015 after hallucinations brought on by stress and sleep deprivation, after a separate 2013 hospitalization for pancreatitis after excessive alcohol intake. 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.". Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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.". 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.. Courtesy of Pixabay. 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. Spota hugged his wife and his weeping daughter before leaving the courtroom in silence. 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. Because of their obstructive efforts, the federal investigation was unsuccessful and was closed approximately eight months later. The jurors reached the guilty verdict after deliberating for about seven hours over two days. A former Long Island prosecutor convicted of obstructing justice after a prisoner was beaten has begun serving a five-year federal prison sentence. 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. "Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland are guilty of ruining the lives of so many other families. The jury deliberated for nearly a full day before returning the guilty verdict. Police officers who received subpoenas from the FBI were interrogated afterward by Burke's allies about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. "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. 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. 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. 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." Thomas J. Spota, the Suffolk County district attorney, and his top anti-corruption prosecutor were charged on . [15][16] Spota resigned from office on November 10, 2017. 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. The jury determined that Spota and McPartland obstructed justice by covering for former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who abused Loeb in 2012. The assault happened hours after the Smithtown man, then a heroin addict, stole a duffel bag from Burkes department vehicle with items inside it that included Burkes gun belt and ammunition, along with Viagra, sex toys and pornography. 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. Thomas Spota was the prosecutor. In 2001, Spota won his first election as district attorney with the backing of police unions while campaigning on an anti-corruption platform. 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. ", "The actions of these defendants represent the worst of law enforcement," said Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini Tuesday. 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. To maintain the lie, Mr. Spota and Mr. McPartland relied heavily on Mr. Hickey, the police commander who supervised those three detectives. On Tuesday, after the verdict was read, Mr. Loeb, the man who was assaulted by the police chief, poked his head into the emptying courtroom. Alek Lewis is a lifelong Riverhead resident and a 2021 graduate of Stony Brook Universitys School of Communication and Journalism. This story has been shared 121,843 times. No other witness testified to receiving direct orders from Mr. Spota or Mr. McPartland to obstruct the investigation, defense lawyers argued. Burke pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation and conspiracy to obstruct justice in February 2016 and was sentenced to 46 months imprisonment. 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. He repeatedly promoted Mr. Burke in the Police Department, consolidating their power. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The assault of the burglary suspect happened about a year into Mr. Burkes tenure as police chief. 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. Having served as the Suffolk County D.A. That year in Nassau County, Democrats also were victorious in many positions. Prosecutors want a federal judge to deny bail for ex-Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and his former aide while . 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,. Lawyers for Spota and McPartland portrayed Hickey during the trial as a mentally unstable drunk and serial philanderer who lied repeatedly to his spouse and committed perjury when testifying years ago in a burglary case that a Suffolk judge threw out. 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. Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Jacqueline Maguire, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentences. ALSO READ | Street racing hit-and run crash leaves woman dead, man hurt in Brooklyn, police say. 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.
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