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]

Term limits, shrinking the size of Troy's Council on the table (CLARIFICATION)

ZALEWSKI

CLARIFCATION: Zalewski said the commission is exploring whether or not it is legal and/or feasible to break out the controversial question of term limits on it's own and have people vote on the rest of the charter changes as a whole.

The Troy Charter Review Commission is discussing two controversial issues as it determines what revisions to make to the city’s governing document.

The abolition of term limits and reducing the size of the Council from nine to seven members – with six district representatives and one for the entire city - are on the table, said Councilman Ken Zalewski, D-District 5, on Talk 1300.

Zalewski, who is serving his fourth and final two-year term under the charter, said a representative from the League of Women Voters, Steve Muller, came to the last commission meeting and made a strong case against term limits. While any change to the charter would not impact Zalewski or any other official currently in office, Zalewski said he appreciates both sides of the age-old term limit argument and is open to changing them in Troy. Zalewski is serving on the commission with eight other members.

He said it makes little sense for federal officials like members of Congress – where big money is often exchanged for influence - to serve as long as voters want them elected while in a relatively tiny City of Troy members of the Council and the mayor can only serve eight years.

Other arguments for term limits include allowing politicians to stay in office too long and getting lazy or corrupt, using the office to campaign for what has become a never-ending election cycle and preventing “new blood” with new ideas from getting into office. Arguments against include forcing a conscientious, hard-working honest politician out of office because an arbitrary number of years has passed and the loss of institutional knowledge for the same reason. It also takes power away from voters who should have the final say if they want someone to stay or go.

To the other hot button issue, Zalewski said there have been nine Council members since Troy’s population was upwards towards 75,000. Now, he said, it is right around 50,000 and three At Large members are not necessary. Also, he said, six people running for three seats can confuse some voters because they may think it is a head to head contest between the two who are lined up across from each other on the ballot rather having the ability to choose any three candidates.

The way Troy’s electoral process is now, the candidate with the highest vote total is the Council president. The president does not have any more power than the other eight members but the president does preside over meetings. By default, if the charter is changed reducing the number of members to seven, candidates would run directly for the presidency.

While there has been some talk of reducing the size of the Council, there has not been any serious move towards that end.

Mayoral term limits, however, became an issue in 2003, then Mayor Mark Pattison’s last year in office. First he asked a sharply divided Council to abolish term limits and while everyone thought then Councilman Bill Pascarell, D-District 4, was going to be the swing vote, Councilman Keith Rogers, D-District 3, broke from his Democratic colleagues and voted to keep them in place.

(As an aside, I was covering Troy at the time and for at least a week prior to the vote Pascarell wouldn’t tell anyone which way he was voting. Or, maybe he told both sides he was with them, I honestly have no idea. But the night of the vote, Pascarell was standing about eight-foot tall when he walked up on the dais, relishing the fact all eyes were on him. Not 30 minutes later, Rogers shocked everyone when he voted with then President Frank LaPosta before Pascarell even had a chance to utter a word. You could almost see him deflate back down to his previous stature of a little shy of five-foot.)

After the Council shot it down, it was put to a referendum where about 75 percent of the electorate said they wanted to keep term limits in place. Also, all those on the Council who supported the move were voted out.

To avoid having what is historically a lightning rod issue – not just in Troy but all over the county – overshadow the other revisions to the charter, Zalewski said the commission is exploring whether or not it can legally put two different versions of the new charter to the voters this November. The two would be identical except one would include abolishing term limits and one would leave them in place.

  

 

  

 

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.

Troy suspends Parks and Rec. Department head (UPDATED)

ROGERS

George Rogers, head of the Troy Parks and Recreation Department, was suspended for five days, according to sources.

Because it is a personal issue, city spokesman Michael Morris would only say Rogers is still employed by the city.

At Monday’s budget hearing, Rogers was critical of Mayor Lou Rosamilia’s proposed spending plan that cuts the Parks and Recreation Department by $161,217 from $2,220,293 to $2,081,455. Two positions are eliminated from the budget, a $32,089 a year laborer and a $54,796 working foreman.

Rogers was upset with his budget getting cut after getting reprimanded for going over budget the last two years. Seems he was also none to happy that many of the seasonal positions - more than was in his budget - were either going to political hacks or the friends and family thereof.

So, at Monday's budget meeting, to offset the costs, Rogers said some people should "grow a set" and up the fees for those using the city's recreational facilities.

When Rosamilia questioned who specifically he was referring to Rogers pointed at Deputy Mayor Pete Ryan.

The deputy mayor did in fact "grow a set" and suspended Rogers for five days without pay.

 

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.