FBI Agents arrest 4th Schenectady Police Officer
- OFR -
Police veteran faces charges
By MIKE GOODWIN
Gazette Reporter
ALBANY - A fourth Schenectady police officer was arraigned Monday on
corruption charges, and
the cooperation of convicted felon and ex-police officer Michael J.
Siler appears to be key to the
case.
FBI agents arrested Patrolman Nicola Messere, 42, at his Burnt Hills
home early Tuesday morning,
charging him with drug distribution for allegedly giving crack cocaine
to an informant.
Siler, who cut a deal with prosecutors last week for a reduced sentence,
is cooperating with the
investigation of the Police Department. He told the FBI on Monday that
he saw Messere give crack
cocaine to informant Tina Martinez on July 19, 1998, according to a
criminal complaint.
"Messere pulled the car up near where Martinez was standing and then
threw several crack cocaine
`bumps' on the ground for Martinez," FBI agent Laura Youngblood wrote in
the complaint. The
description, she said, came from Siler.
Martinez told Youngblood a similar story during a Feb. 23 interview.
According to the complaint,
Martinez said Messere drove up to her as she sat in the street and threw
four pieces of crack to her.
Martinez, 39, was recently released from state prison for a 1999
burglary conviction. She has a
history of prostitution and other arrests.
The FBI also claims to have sworn statements from three other women,
Maria Colla, Renee
Rickson and Amy Gilroy, who say Messere gave them crack. Rickson and
Colla were both former
informants for Siler and were expected to testify against him.
Messere sobbed throughout the court appearance and could barely speak
when U.S. Magistrate
David R. Homer asked him for the proper pronunciation of his last name.
"Nick is very hurt. He's very distraught," his attorney, Paul
DerOhannesian II, said after court. "He's
very upset about what effect this will have on his family and friends."
DerOhannesian called Messere a "good, hard-working cop."
"Nick has told me he's done nothing wrong," he said. ". . . Nick is
proud of what he's done as a
police officer in Schenectady."
Messere faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of the charge. He was
released on a $25,000
personal recognizance bond. Police officials expect he will be suspended
from the force today.
DerOhannesian questioned why agents arrested Messere at home, in front
of his wife and two
children. Messere, he said, would have surrendered if asked.
Messere is the fourth officer to face charges in connection with the
investigation.
Siler pleaded guilty to racketeering, extortion, drug distribution and
drug possession as his trial was
about to begin July 23 in U.S. District Court in Utica. He faced up to
30 years in prison, but cut a
deal with prosecutors that caps his sentence at 46 to 57 months in
custody.
Siler admitted he gave crack to informants, telling a judge he knew
other officers who acted
similarly.
Siler's former partner, Richard E. Barnett, pleaded guilty to drug
distribution and extortion on Sept.
18 and is also cooperating. He is also expected to get a reduced
sentence.
Lt. Michael J. Hamilton Jr. faces three federal offenses for allegedly
tipping off an informant to an
undercover investigation of drug dealing at her home on First Avenue in
Schenectady.
Hamilton faces no other charges, but recently unsealed court documents
filed by the U.S. attorney's
office include allegations that he gave drugs to his informants.
`Dynamic Duo'
Messere, a 19-year Police Department veteran, racked up hundreds of drug
arrests during his
career. In 1998, he and Hamilton won the Chief's Award - the Police
Department's highest honor -
for their effort to eliminate street crime.
At the time, Police Chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek dubbed them the "Dynamic
Duo."
But a different image of the officers has emerged as federal prosecutors
reveal more of their case.
Court documents filed in Siler's case detail how prosecutors believe he
and other officers maintained
a network of street informants, many of them drug-addicted prostitutes,
by feeding them a steady
supply of crack and other drugs. The officers allegedly shook down drug
dealers to get the
narcotics.
The police would then rely on the women to provide them with tips they
could use to make drug
arrests and rack up overtime pay.
NAACP list
The identities of the officers who have pleaded guilty or have been
charged with wrongdoing came
as no surprise to the leaders of the Schenectady chapter of the National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
A list with the names of a half-dozen officers suspected of improper or
criminal conduct was given
to Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski and Kaczmarek in the summer of 1998,
according to Fred Clark,
the NAACP's second vice president.
The list included Messere, Siler, Barnett, Hamilton and two other
officers, he said.
The NAACP had received complaints about the officers' behavior on the
streets and gave them to
the mayor and chief. That was about one year before the mayor and police
chief asked the FBI to
investigate the department.
"They were alerted to the fact they had some rogue cops," Clark said,
adding that the 2-year-old
investigation could have been avoided if action had been taken then.
"The irony of that list that was given is that you could have put a
check mark by the names of all the
officers that are being indicted right now," he said.
Clark's comments echo those of Eric Yager, a retired police lieutenant
and one-time leader of the
vice squad. In a sworn deposition, Yager said he warned Kaczmarek in
1997 that patrol officers,
including Hamilton and Messere, were taking money and drugs from street
dealers. Kaczmarek
dismissed the warning, Yager said. He made the remarks in connection
with a civil rights lawsuit a
man has filed against Schenectady and the Police Department.
Chief's probe
On Tuesday, Kaczmarek said he went to the FBI once he had something
solid against his officers.
But it appears the FBI was already investigating the Police Department
when Kaczmarek asked for
their assistance. He now says he started an internal investigation of
the patrol officers nearly one
year before the FBI launched its investigation in 1999. It's the first
time Kaczmarek has made such a
claim.
He said the outcome of the investigation should quiet his critics, many
of whom, he said, had little
hope it would lead to the arrest of officers.
"If anybody was suspended, they'd be surprised," Kaczmarek said. "Now
we've got two guys going
to prison and two other guys facing charges. Nobody can accuse us of
throwing this under the rug."
Mayor Albert P. Jurczynski late Tuesday said, "This is difficult for the
city, it's difficult for the
department. But we're committed to this investigation. We have been from
the beginning and we will
be committed to it to the end. We want it to be thorough and we want it
to be truthful, and naturally
we want to see it end as soon as possible.
"Officer Messere," the mayor said, "will have his day in court."
Gazette reporter Michael DeMasi contributed to this article.
--
- Outlaw Frog Raper -
Schenectady Copwatch
(518) 356-4238
- OFR -
Agent Youngblood is the FBI contact that OFR has been giving information
to
for over a year and a half.
3 Months before Hamilton's arrest for tipping off Tina Siemans, I gave
Agent Youngblood his cell phone number of his drug phone, his home phone
number and his pager number. I informed that he was distributing drug
evidence
back to the streets.
The gambling connection is about to fall. gambling is run by a former
Schenectady Cop who shot his wife in "69 and was not charged because
she was unfaithful. He was forced to retire into a life of gambling,
protected by the Schenectady cops and partnered with the Police Chief's
in-laws. Yes, the police chief that failed his drug test last summer.
Another cop, Mark LaViolette was reported for manufacturing throwdown
guns
with the supplier of steel products that built the SOS assault van with
the
knock down rear wall and also makes the battering rams for them.
Information was taken from an informant that I personally fed to the
cops
by telling them the informatoion came from Hamilton and LaViolette's
limo driver that took them on hooker, casino, and drug trips. The cops
immediately retalliated with death threats.
The FBI was watching them all along as this unfolded.
Hamilton had me arrested after I came home and caught Deloris
Siemans(Tina's Mom)
and Doreen Hofelich (Jason the limo driver's mom) planting evidence in
my daughter's house. They broke in and I pulled my gun. They would not
leave
and I forcibly ejected them. I was arrested, they were not.
Jason then travelled to Florida and beat up my daughter at work, where
she fled to get away from Jason and the cops he has worked for since his
previous arrests.
Jason originally was facing 13 life sentences, but was given lifetime
probation, as part of a deal where he gave 20,000 dollars to an inmate
at Attica named Joe Civitello and joe, in exchange, came to Schenectady
County jail and gave the location of 3 dead bodies located here in
Schenectady.
He then was forced into slavery for the cops. They bought him the limo.
They made him set people up for them, including Jeff Civitello, the
nephew
of Joe that he made the deal with.
Jason was just released from Sharpes correctional facility for
assaulting
my daughter. He skipped out on 2 bails here in NY and I reported his
whereabouts to the bondsman who had him returned to Schenectady to stand
trial on felony drug charges and bail jumping.
He is currently being held at the Schenectady County Jail waiting to
testify
against cops as part of anther Federal deal.
Last week video tape was sent to the DEA and the local police chief of
cops smoking pot on-duty.
I have reported thefts by police, gambling, working second jobs while on
the clock, ticket fixing, drug dealer protection, extorion, etc.
The Police Chief is expected to retire at the conclusion of the
investigation.
- OFR -
>
> On Wed, 01 Aug 2001 03:22:01 -0400,> Have you ever considered posting something current? You know like
> something you found out yourself rather than what you read or saw on TV?
> Your usual "contribution" to this newsgroup, nyc.general, is old hat, having
> already appeared in several papers and often in other media too.
It's 4 am. The papers haven't even hit the street yet, genius.
You could not have read this story yet.
>What's your
> objective in repeating what people already know ?
>
> --
> "Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to clubbing baby seals.
> It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." -Steven M. Barry