AG charges RensCo CO Rogers with four felonies

ROGERS

Kevin Rogers, the Rensselaer County corrections officer who was sitting home making a full paycheck for four-plus years, is now facing criminal charges for improperly spending union funds, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

According to the complaint (see below), Rogers, as vice president and treasurer of the now defunct Sheriff’s Employees Association of Rensselaer County, spent more than $3,000 of the union’s money on strip clubs, restaurants and ring-side seats for boxing matches. Mark Piche, now a former CO, was president of the union. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to paying workers off the books at his family’s restaurant, the Red Front, which equates to tax evasion and resigned his position at the jail.

Now that formal criminal charges are filed, Rogers, who was making his $75,000-plus salary since 2011 when he was suspended by Sheriff Jack Mahar, is now off the payroll for 30 days. He will then return to the payroll while the criminal case winds its way through the court system.

At that time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, through the FBI, began an investigation but issued an unprecedented letter to Rogers in December, 2014 exonerating him of all criminality. But, the letter did indicate any and all information was passed on to the AG’s office.

“Those who hold positions of trust must be held to the highest standards of professional conduct,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “We take allegations of misuse of funds contributed by dues-paying union members very seriously. Cases like this represent a betrayal of both the union’s members and its mission.”

According to the complaint – charging Rogers with four felonies including two counts of grand larceny and two counts related to forging a union check – there are three witnesses. Witness 1 told Witness 2 that he saw Rogers use the union debit card at a strip club. Witness 2 told authorities he reviewed the books and saw that Rogers did use the debit card to pay for personnel expenses unrelated to union activity.

The third witness told authorities that Pugnacious Promotions, a company that promotes local boxers and boxing matches, sponsored an event in July, 2010 and on Feb. 3, 2011. For the first, Witness 2 told authorities Rogers cut a union check for $1,200, the price of a ring-side seat. For the second, he was given a union check for $400 but altered it to $600, again the price of a ring-side seat. The complaint states other union members did not know about the expenditure and were not given the opportunity to see the fight.

COMMENTARY

  Rogers, I’m told by reliable sources, turned down a plea deal offered by the feds and I’m told now he won’t accept a plea deal now – should one be offered. But, the feds didn’t formally charge him so he might feel the pressure more to plea out and avoid jail time.

But, if the case does go to trial, it could be a year or two out and Rogers will be back on the payroll after 30 days so that could be an incentive for him to drag his feet too.

Rogers also filed a civil suit against Mahar and Rensselaer County accusing the sheriff and staffers of improperly accessing his medical records. That is still pending.

As far as the witnesses go, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who they are.

Witness 1, I’m willing to bet, is Piche. He was under the federal eye along with Rogers but pled to tax evasion and got a slap on the wrist. It’s long been known that part of that plea was to testify against Rogers. The two were president and vice president and were hang out buddies – and were known to hit the strip clubs and restaurants.

Witness 2, has to be Christopher Fumarola since he was never under any suspicion and had access to the union’s books. So did the authorities, I suppose, but they need someone to tell them – and any potential jury – what the numbers actually mean.

The third is obviously someone involved with Pugnacious Promotions.

The bottom line is did Rogers, who was duly elected by the union membership, have the authority to spend union money as he saw fit? And, even if he did have that authority, did he overstep that responsibility and use union funds for his personnel benefit.

I guess that’s what jury trials are for.  

Whatever the answer or the outcome, I hope someone does something to stop paying him for sitting home.   

 

Rogers Felony Complaint[1]

Sheriff Mahar will not run for another term

MAHAR

Sheriff Jack Mahar, in a letter to Rensselaer County Chairman John Rustin, said he will not run for a fourth term and instead “enjoy his retirement.”

Now that Mahar’s decision is made, focus is turned to who the major parties will support. Top of the list for the GOP is Pat Russo, a former Troy cop and Mahar’s undersheriff.

Russo has not officially indicated whether or not he will seek the nomination but Bob Ashe, the Hoosick Falls police chief and former North Greenbush Town Board member has also announced his intention to run and has started a Facebook page.

Ashe lost a primary to Mahar in 2003 and appears to be gearing up for a run whether or not he gets the party’s endorsement or not.

GORDON

Two Troy police captains, John Cooney, who was the public information officer, and Terry Buchanan, who headed the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, were considering running for sheriff and undersheriff, respectively, but have since abandoned the notion. Cooney , who would be the only name on the ballot, is a registered Conservative so he would need permission from a major party to be a viable candidate.

It’s unclear who the Democrats will nominate too. Gary Gordon, who lost a bitter battle to Mahar four years ago, has yet to decide if he will run.

While Russo's record is unblemished, Mahar did have a tough three years-plus in office. He and the county are facing a handful of civil suits related to allegations staff inappropriately and illegally accessed the medical records of political foes and others.

Cooney (Buchanan) could join crowded race for sheriff

COONEY

John Cooney, a former Troy police captain and well-known spokesman for the department, is “seriously considering” a run for Rensselaer County Sheriff, according to a number of sources.

And, while the sheriff does not run as a team with his undersheriff – the latter is appointed by the sheriff – his first choice for the number two spot is another former Troy police captain, Terry Buchanan.

ASHE

Cooney’s name is the only one that will appear on the ballot. However, getting there may be a challenge for the political newcomer. He is an enrolled member of the Conservative Party and as such would either have to run on that line alone or seek permission from a major party to run on its line - a piece of paper known as a Wilson Pakula.

Meanwhile, Bob Ashe, the Hoosick Falls police chief, sent a letter to Republican committee members touting his extensive law enforcement history as well as his electability – he served on the North Greenbush Town Board from 2000 to 2004. In 1978 he began work as a dispatcher, moved up to corrections officer and then to the North Greenbush Police Department where he earned the rank of sergeant. He has started a Facebook page touting his candidacy.

FRAGOMENI

Mahar’s undersheriff, Pat Russo, another ex-Troy cop, has also been mentioned as a potential candidate should Sheriff Jack Mahar not seek a third term.

Also, former North Greenbush Police Chief Rocco Fragomeni is said to be interested. He was a lifelong Democrat but recently changed his enrollment to Republican.

MAHAR

What the Republicans do depends largely on what Mahar does. It is clear many in the party would rather he not but will likely hold their nose and back him rather than engage him in a primary. As of this writing, he has not formally said one way or another and party leaders say he has not reached out to them either. (As an aside I didn’t even try calling him because he has not returned a phone call since the last time he ran… and even that was iffy)

Mahar beat back a spirited challenge four years ago by Gary Gordon, another former Troy cop and a registered Conservative who ran with Democratic Party backing.

GORDON

To say the race was contentious is an understatement. In the end, a handful of people filed lawsuits alleging Mahar and his staff inappropriately and illegally accessed their medical records and two officers of the now dissolved jail guard’s union came under a federal investigation for misappropriating union funds.

Gordon, who was also dirtied up during the campaign, has yet to decide if he will take another run at Sheriff.

                       

 

U.S. Attorney will not pursue charges against CO Kevin Rogers

LETTER

The U.S. Attorney, in a rare letter of vindication, said he will not bring formal charges against Kevin Rogers, the corrections officer who was being investigated for improperly spending union funds.

Rogers was the vice president of the now defunct Sheriff’s Employees Association of Rensselaer County. He came under investigation for spending union dues on dinners at expensive restaurants, strip clubs, charitable organizations he fancied and political campaigns of candidates he favored.

Sheriff Jack Mahar placed Rogers on suspension with full pay – about $75,000 - four years ago while the federal government investigated. Now that the investigation is closed, it’s unclear if Rogers will go back to work for his paycheck. Mahar has, in the past, said Rogers will never work at the jail again.

The union’s president at the time, Mark Piche, was also investigated. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion in an unrelated matter involving the Red Front Restaurant, which is owned by his family, and resigned his post as a corrections officer. As was reported earlier, part of that deal was his agreeing to testify against Rogers should the case ever made it to trial. 

ROGERS

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Richard S. Hartunian, in the Dec. 5 letter to Rogers’s attorney Gaspar M. Castillo, said he would hand information over to the state Attorney General, but the statute of limitations is rapidly approaching. And, it’s widely believed, that if the federal government couldn’t find any crime after four years of probing, the state government will give it a cursory glance at best.

Sources say that investigators for the U.S. Attorney’s Office reached out to Rogers on a number of occasions – the latest being last week – saying they were ready to indict and that it would go easier on him if he cooperated. Rogers declined to talk and instead called their bluff.

Rogers never denied spending the union money in the manner stated above and most, if not all, of the transactions were recorded as expenditures in the union check book. However, once the investigation was kicked off, union members complained of not having access to the records, asked for a criminal investigation and voted to dissolve the union.

The initial complaint filed by some union members came after Gary Gordon challenged Mahar for sheriff in 2011. Personnel at the jail were split on which camp they supported during the heated, contentious campaign.

MAHAR

This fall, Rogers joined a handful of jail employees – civilian and uniformed - who filed a civil suit against Mahar and Rensselaer County for claims their medical records were accessed in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPPA. The county has settled one suit for $20,000.  

The U.S. Attorney – or any investigatory body – rarely sends a letter stating the case is closed and charges will not be pursued. The only other person to receive such a letter, in recent memory, was then Cohoes Mayor Bob Signoracci after the FBI concluded its investigation into a number of alleged financial improprieties without bringing charges in the mid-1990s.

More information as it becomes available.

Jail employee on paid leave for more than two years files suit against Sheriff Mahar

MAHAR

A corrections officer who has been on paid administrative leave for more than two years is the latest to file a lawsuit against Sheriff Jack Mahar and others for improperly accessing medical records.

Kevin Rogers, a CO at the Rensselaer County Jail from 1990 through 1996 and again from 2003 to the present, claims two nurses at the jail, at Mahar’s direction, accessed his records on at least three occasions. If the allegations are true, it violates a number of Rogers’s Constitutional rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

Rogers, who was the union vice president and makes in excess of $70,000 a year, has been on paid administrative leave because of allegations he used union funds for personal gain. According to sources, he has refused to plea bargain with the federal authorities who are looking into the matter. He has not been formally charged with any crime.

The Rensselaer County Jail
(The one in Troy, NY not Troy, Michigan) 

President of the now defunct Sheriff’s Employees Association of Rensselaer County, Mark Piche, was also under scrutiny for using union funds at strip clubs and high-end restaurants. In 2013 he pleaded guilty to tax evasion in relation to a restaurant his family owns, The Red Front in Troy. He did not face any embezzlement charges but sources say part of his plea to tax evasion was to testify against Rogers when and if the latter is charged and when and if it goes to trial. He also resigned from his position at the jail.

The two former union representatives were staunch supporters of Gary Gordon, a former Troy police officer now working as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office, in his bid for sheriff against Mahar in 2011.  Gordon ran with the Democrats and Mahar is a Republican.  

In his civil suit against the Sheriff’s Department, Mahar and nurses Katrina Dinan and Elaine Young Rogers claims his medical records were accessed without his permission twice in 2006 and again in 2013. The nurses allegedly used a system the jail had established with Samaritan Hospital to check medical records of inmates getting care at the hospital electronically.  

GORDON

In 2013, Samaritan sent a letter to scores of jail employees telling them their records were accessed in a similar fashion and at least half dozen lawsuits similar to the one filed Friday by Rogers followed.

  The password to the Samaritan Hospital medical records was given to Young, who has since resigned her position after 13 years at the jail. This lawsuit, like others, claims Young did not properly secure the password and instead left it taped to the computer console or in her desk drawer.  

  The suit claims Mahar directed jail personnel to access the records under the guise of stepping up enforcement of sick time abuse – and even if that were the reason, it would still violate HIPPA.

“This is not the first time high ranking Rensselaer County officials have abused their power to access confidential information,” according the lawsuit filed by Rogers’s attorney Matthew Tully in federal court. “The employees of the Rensselaer County Jail, under the supervision of Sheriff Mahar, have a habit and practice of breaching the privacy of citizens and improperly accessing computer databases.”

PICHE

The suit goes on to talk about Master Sgt. Anthony Patricelli, who was considered one of Mahar’s loyalists when the jail was fractured between Mahar supporters and those of Gordon. He admitted to directing employees to access medical records and was initially charged with the felonies of falsifying business records and computer trespass as well as official misconduct, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a computer.

“Unbelievably, Defendant Patricelli was not disciplined by Defendant Mahar and remains an employee at the Rensselaer County Jail,” according to the lawsuit. “It is clear that Defendant Mahar’s failure to take action against Defendant Patricelli, in the face of unquestionably illegal conduct, that Defendant Mahar and Rensselaer County have ratified the conduct of Defendant Patricelli and other employees as it relates to the unauthorized access of citizen’s private information.”

Specifically, the suit alleges Mahar violated Rogers’s right to privacy, implementing policies and procedures that directly violate Constitutional rights, the failure to train and supervise employees under state law, violating the American with Disabilities Act, and computer fraud and abuse.

The suit demands a trial by jury and an unspecified cash amount be awarded.

Mahar could not be reached for comment.

Rogers is represented by attorney Gasper Castillo in the criminal matter that has yet to yield an indictment.

More information as it becomes available.

Another jail employee files a lawsuit (DOCUMENT)

MAHAR

Another employee at the Rensselaer County jail has filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Jack Mahar.

Senior Accountant David Snyder, a 20-year employee, claims Mahar or those working at his direction violated his right to privacy by accessing his medical records in 2007.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court earlier this month, on Feb. 26 Snyder was not feeling well and visited the jail nurse who told him his blood pressure had skyrocketed and he should go to the hospital. After a visit to Samaritan, he missed one or two days of work.

Last year, Snyder along with nearly 50 other jail employees, received a letter from Samaritan telling him his medical records had been accessed by someone at the jail. The hospital had given the jail access to records to facilitate the continuity of care given to inmates by the hospital.

The account and password were given to nurse Debra Young, who has since resigned her 13-year post at the jail. However, the lawsuit claims she either left the password taped to her computer monitor or in her desk drawer. Young, through her attorney Kevin Luibrand, say the password was readily accessible to other employees and she maintains she did nothing wrong and is cooperating with the internal investigation headed up by Mahar.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Elmer Robert Keach, claims that in 2004, also claims Sheriff Jack Mahar instituted a new sick time policy to cut back on abuse. There were some employees, according to the suit, who Mahar suspected of abusing sick time and were denied time off absent a doctor’s note.

“To facilitate this policy, Sheriff Mahar personally accessed and/or directed, other employees at the Renssealer County Sheriff’s Department, including Defendant Young, to improperly access personal and medical information of multiple employees who were absent from work, were harmed from work, or were filing worker’s compensation claims,” according to the lawsuit. “This is evident by the fact Sheriff Mahar personally handled all claims for sick leave or other injury related benefits.”

   The latest lawsuit is one of a handful accusing Rensselaer County and Mahar of violating federal privacy laws - under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - by improperly accessing confidential medical records. One was filed by the parents of a 9-year-old girl who claims she was injured by the K-9 owned by a corrections officer who was a neighbor.

None of the suits specify a dollar amount, but do ask for a jury to award punitive damages.

 

Snyder Complaint