A Manhattan judge dressed down a crooked NYPD detective who – after copping to stealing nearly $6,000 from the Manhattan district attorney’s Office – sent a letter proclaiming his innocence to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Michael Bazerman who had headed a wiretap and surveillance squad pleaded guilty to misdemeanor misconduct in August. In exchange for a no-jail plea deal the 18-year-veteran forfeited his $70,000 a year pension and medical benefits – worth an estimated $3 million – and paid full restitution.
But in a desperate attempt to retain his valuable pension, Bazerman wrote his former boss a letter claiming that he’d been railroaded.
“The thrust of letter is that he wants to still receive his pension,” said Bronx Assistant District Attorney Peter Kennedy, who tried the case because it involved the Manhattan prosecutors’ office. “The defendant very specifically protests his innocence and also claims he was being railroaded by the New York County and Bronx district attorneys’ offices and asks for an independent investigation.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward blasted him for the letter, which put his plea deal in jeopardy.
“A plea has to be voluntarily and not coerced and not based on a lie,” she told him sternly at his sentencing before putting him under oath and demanding he retract the statements.
“What you’ve said in a letter to police Commissioner Kelly is a lie is that true?”
“Yes,” Bazerman sheepishly replied.
Charles Linehan, from the Manhattan DA’s Office, read a statement chastising Bazerman for continuing to deny his guilt.
“His criminal behavior and his consistent failure to take responsibility for his own actions, both before and after pleading guilty under oath, are reprehensible,” he said.
Ward skewered the disgraced cop. “I don’t know what you were thinking when you basically threw away your career,” she said. “I always find it incredibly upsetting when someone who has the people’s trust disregards his responsibilities.”
The Staten Island father of two faced up to 7 years in prison on over 300 counts of grand larceny, forgery and other charges for submitting bogus expense reports to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2009 to 2011.
The 40-year-old admitted to scamming $5,811.93 through fraudulent invoices on Aug. 19.
Prosecutors said he pulled off the scheme by using phony receipts from a New Jersey television and appliance store, Gabowitz, where he worked as a part time salesman.
Bazerman said he’s heartbroken about squandering his career.
“I loved being a cop, my brother is a retired cop, my parents worked for the police department,” he said.