MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York state trooper pleaded responsible Wednesday to expenses that he shot himself then falsely claimed he was wounded by an unknown gunman on a Lengthy Island freeway, prompting a regionwide search.
Thomas Mascia agreed to serve six months in jail, adopted by 5 years probation and continued psychological well being remedy as he formally modified his not responsible plea throughout a court docket look in Nassau County court docket in Mineola.
He additionally agreed, as a part of his plea deal, to pay $289,000 in restitution for the additional time prices for officers throughout the three-day seek for a nonexistent suspect.
The West Hempstead resident had been charged with official misconduct, tampering with proof and falsifying paperwork. He grew to become a trooper in 2019 and resigned after being suspended with out pay whereas state police launched a prison investigation into the taking pictures.
Mascia’s mother and father, Dorothy and Thomas, additionally pleaded responsible Wednesday to firearm expenses associated to the incident.
Mascia claimed he was shot within the leg on Oct. 30 by a driver parked on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway, a couple of mile from his residence.
The taking pictures prompted a large search because the trooper mentioned the suspect, who he claimed was a “dark-skinned” man, fled in a automobile bearing momentary New Jersey plates heading towards New York Metropolis.
As an alternative, prosecutors say, Mascia shot himself in a neighborhood park, stashed the gun, drove to the freeway and known as for backup.
Nassau County District Lawyer Anne Donnelly mentioned after Wednesday’s listening to that “some of the disturbing components” of the case was that Mascia deliberately set in movement a probably harmful search.
“If somebody had been stopped that match the outline? Who is aware of what would have occurred?” she mentioned. “It’s only a scary thought.”
Donnelly mentioned the ruse was an obvious bid to achieve sympathy from a former girlfriend and that state police are additionally wanting into an accident Mascia was concerned in whereas serving as a trooper upstate.
Throughout Wednesday’s proceedings, prosecutors requested the previous trooper a sequence of questions confirming the sequence of occasions.
“You knew this was a lie and selected to do it anyway?” Jared Rosenblatt of the district lawyer’s workplace requested on the finish of the questions.
“Sure,” Mascia replied in a low voice.
The previous trooper and his mother and father didn’t reply to reporters as they left the courthouse with their legal professionals. They’re scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20.
The household had appeared in court docket earlier this month to alter their pleas, however the choose on the time halted the proceedings after Mascia mentioned he didn’t really feel effectively mentally and that he was receiving remedy.
Jeffrey Lichtman, Mascia’s lawyer, beforehand mentioned the previous trooper, who resigned in January, has been affected by “untreated psychological well being points” for years.