|
Home  News NY Officer Accused in Sex, Bribery Case
|
|
NY Officer Accused in Sex, Bribery Case |
| Print |
|
E-mail
|
A police officer was charged with soliciting sex from at least four women while in uniform — in one case propositioning a victim of domestic violence under the guise of checking on her welfare.
Prosecutors said others victimized by Southampton Officer Guy Giammatteo included a pair of prostitutes who provided sex in his police cruiser in exchange for dropping arrest warrants, along with a Hampton’s nightclub owner who was given inside information on investigations at the club in exchange for sex.
"These are crimes that are as brazen as they are appalling," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said at a news conference following the arraignment. "He is a sexual predator in a police uniform."
Giammatteo, 32, a five-year veteran who is married with children, pleaded not guilty to bribe receiving, coercion and official misconduct in a 14-count indictment unsealed Wednesday. He was released on $10,000 bail and ordered to return to court on April 13. He could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Defense attorney William Keahon contended that the officer's brother-in-law — notorious Hampton’s killer Danny Pelosi — had orchestrated the arrest in a vendetta against relatives who testified against him in his 2004 murder trial. Spota ridiculed that contention, calling it a "fantasy," and Pelosi's attorney, Anthony LaPinta, termed it "ludicrous."
The prosecutor said Giammatteo began committing the acts shortly after joining the department in April 2002. A police statement said the investigation was sparked by an anonymous September 2006 letter alleging misdeeds by Giammatteo.
Pelosi, 43, was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2001 beating death of Theodore Ammon, an East Hampton millionaire. At the time of the killing, Pelosi was having an affair with Ammon's wife, whom he married months later. They later separated, and she died of cancer in 2003. He is serving a prison term of 27 years to life. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
. All rights reserved.