New York State Troopers Suspended for Prostitution

ALBANY — Three state troopers from western New York were suspended Thursday as part of a State Police investigation into allegations that at least one trooper, and possibly more, were involved in promoting a prostitution ring in which female prostitutes were transported from Canada to the Buffalo area.
Two people with knowledge of the case said the investigation involves up to five troopers but is centered on Trooper Titus Z. Taggart, 41, an 18-year veteran and the son of a former State Police colonel. Taggart is assigned to Troop T in Buffalo, a unit that patrols the New York State Thruway. The other two troopers, Jeremy C. Smith, 34, and Michael L. Petritz, 33, were both suspended without pay for misconduct. State Police officials said they were not involved in organizing the alleged prostitution ring.
Taggart's father, Arthur L. Taggart, 72, is a retired State Police colonel who was a special assistant to Thomas Constantine, a former State Police superintendent.
A State Police spokesman said Taggart was suspended without pay "as a result of an internal investigation that alleges he organized parties that may have involved the promotion of prostitution, while off-duty." The spokesman said there have been no arrests. Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, declined to comment.
The investigation began about five months ago as investigators sifted websites with postings that promoted parties where alleged prostitution was being offered, according to a person briefed on the case. State Police investigators have examined allegations that Taggart may have facilitated bringing prostitutes from Canada to the Buffalo area, the person added.
Federal law enforcement organizations also are involved in the investigation.
New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association President Thomas Mungeer said he was not told of any arrests.
"From what I understand there's an investigation into off-duty conduct, and if and when somebody calls for PBA representation for administrative purposes we'll be involved," Mungeer said. "They might have made an arrest. I'm getting kind of hearsay."
Titus Taggart could not be reached for comment. He joined the State Police in September 1993. Taggart's Facebook page depicts several photographs in which he is holding what appears to be bottles of alcohol. One photo depicts a sexually charged cartoon rendering of a woman holding a gun and wearing a police uniform augmented with lingerie. The depiction shows the woman standing in front of a heart that is adorned with yellow police tape and the words "busted."
In a brief telephone interview Thursday Arthur Taggart said he was unaware his son had been suspended and that he planned to call State Police headquarters for information on his son's case. He declined additional comment and said he would try to reach his son.
In December 2010, Gov. Andrew Cuomo tapped his former chief investigator from the attorney general's office as State Police superintendent. The appointment of Joseph D'Amico, a former New York Police Department deputy chief, followed a series of high-profile political scandals involving the State Police and the governor's office.

What's The Problem With this State Trooper

One night in 1990 I was driving up Burlingham Road, New York.  A State Trooper stopped me for a burned out tail light.  He asked me for my registration.  I handed him a registration that was 2 years out of date and for another car.  The trooper looked at it and said, okay you check out okay.  He said just get that tail light fixed.  I laughed all the way home.  What kind of dope was this trooper?  Is he blind?  Can't he read?  See I was checking him out for what kind of dope he was.  This is the truth too.

New York State Trooper Charged with Rape

State trooper charged with rape

PLATTSBURGH - At approximately 4:00 pm on Tuesday, February 5, off-duty Trooper Trevor Donah, 32 of Plattsburgh was arrested by the New York State Police Bureau of Investigation and charged with two counts of rape in the first degree.  His arrest is the result of an investigation by State Police into allegations from two female victims known to him.  Donah was arraigned in Plattsburgh court and sent to the Clinton County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, $100,000 bond.  He is due back in court on February 11, 2013 at 10:00 am.  Temporary orders of protection were issued at the time of the arraignment. Although the alleged crimes occurred in Clinton County, the Honorable Kevin Ryan, Clinton County Court Judge, has appointed Franklin County District Attorney Derek P. Champagne as Special Prosecutor in this case. Donah, a five-year veteran assigned to SP Plattsburgh, was suspended without pay pending further investigation. Anyone with additional information is asked to call Troop B Major Crimes Unit at 518-897-2000.

New York City Cop Charged with Rape

An off-duty New York City police officer was arrested in Upper Manhattan on Friday after he grabbed a woman who was on her way to work, showed her he had a gun and raped her in the backyard of a nearby building, the police said.

The officer, Michael V. Pena, 27, was suspended without pay and stripped of his gun and badge after he was arrested about 6:30 a.m. by officers from the 34th Precinct who had responded to a 911 call from a neighbor awoken by the noise, the police said. He was charged with forcible rape, the officials said.

Officer Pena, a three-year member of the force who has been assigned to the 33rd Precinct since January, lives in Yonkers and had last worked a midnight shift that ended at 8 a.m. Thursday, said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman. He was due back at work on Saturday.

The woman, a 25-year-old teacher, told the police that she was on her way to work in the Bronx when a man who appeared to be intoxicated approached her near her home in Inwood and asked for directions to the No. 1 train, Mr. Browne said.

At one point, the man put his arm around her, opened his jacket, pointed at a pistol that was on his belt, and said, “ ‘You’re coming with me,’ ” Mr. Browne said.

The man, who was not believed to have identified himself as a police officer, led the woman along for two to three blocks “under threat,” Mr. Browne said. He turned into a backyard behind a residential building near Park Terrace West and West 217th Street, then raped her, Mr. Browne said.

A woman who lives in the building was awoken by the noise and looked outside to see what was happening. “She felt it just didn’t look consensual to her,” Mr. Browne said. About two minutes later, a man walking in the area came upon the attacker, whose pants were down, the police said. He excused himself, apparently believing he had interrupted a consensual encounter. When two uniformed officers arrived, within three minutes of the 911 call, they saw the attacker and the woman standing in the backyard, “and the victim ran to the police officers and said, ‘He raped me; be careful, he has a gun,’ ” Mr. Browne said.

The officers handcuffed the man and called an ambulance, which took the woman to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. As the police searched the man, they found his police identification and his badge in his pocket, Mr. Browne said.

“And his gun was on the ground next to him,” Mr. Browne said, referring to a loaded 9-millimeter Glock pistol.

Additional charges against the officer were pending, the police said.

 

New York City Cop Gang Assault

A New York City detective assaults a couple in a car.  The detective is a member of a gang of motor cycle riders.  They all were riding on a New York highway.  The gang enclosed on a SUV on the highway and attacked the driver.  One of the cyclist  busted the window on the SUV and dragged the driver out  and they beat him.  They were also going to attack the wife, but someone stopped them.  The detective didn't even stop the attack.  He was involved in it.  This is quite common among New Yorker to be violent.

NYS Trooper guilty of prostitution

Former NYS Trooper Pleads Guilty to Promoting Prostitution

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12/17/2012

Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announced that former New York State Police Trooper Titus Z. Taggart, age 42, of 3311 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, pleaded guilty today to one count of Promoting Prostitution in the Fourth Degree before County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case. 

Taggart’s plea was the culmination of a months-long investigation by New York State Police Special Investigations Unit and Internal Affairs into allegations that Taggart organized exotic dance parties at which he arranged to have prostitutes present to provide sexual services for money.  Taggart pleaded guilty to advancing prostitution at one such party held on November 12, 2011 at 45 Miller Avenue in Buffalo, the site of the New Brotherhood Motorcycle Club.

Taggart, who had served as a New York State Police Trooper for over 18 years, was terminated by the State Police earlier this year.  He faces up to one year in jail when he is sentenced on March 27, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.   

 

NYS Police Fabricate Crime

In April 1993, Craig D. Harvey, a New York State Police trooper was charged with fabricating evidence. Harvey admitted he and another trooper lifted fingerprints from items the suspect, John Spencer, touched while in Troop C headquarters during booking. He attached the fingerprints to evidence cards and later claimed that he had pulled the fingerprints from the scene of the murder. The forged evidence was presented during John Spencer's trial and his subsequent conviction resulted in a term, of 50 years to life in prison, at his sentencing.^[1]

Michael Kinge[edit source | editbeta]

One fabrication involved the 1989 murders of the Harris family of Dryden, New York. In their home, Warren and Dolores Harris, their daughter, Shelby, 15, and their son, Marc, 11, were bound and blindfolded, Shelby was raped and sodomized, all four were shot in the head and the house was doused with gasoline and set afire. State police investigators say that evidence led them to Michael Kinge, and that officers killed him when he pointed a shotgun at them during the arrest. His mother, Shirley Kinge, admitted to using a credit card stolen from the Harris home. Officers David L. Harding and Robert M. Lishansky, of Troop C, admitted they took fingerprints of Ms. Kinge from her work place and claimed to have found them on gasoline cans found at the Harris home. She was convicted of burglary and arson and received a sentence of 17 to 44 years in prison. She served two and a half years before it was revealed that the evidence had been fabricated. Her conviction was later overturned.^[2]

"In a February 2008 ruling, Midey found that the 73-year-old Kinge was the victim of malicious prosecution and negligent supervision of a state police investigator who planted phony fingerprint evidence and gave false testimony linking her to the Harris family slayings in 1989." Kinge was awarded $250,000 in compensation for the nearly 2½ years she spent behind bars.