Metro

State trooper fired in prostitution scandal, 2 more suspended

A party-loving state trooper was fired today for promoting wild soirees with prostitutes — and two more troopers were suspended in the scandal.

Titus Taggart, an 18-year veteran of the force, was brought up on departmental charges earlier this year and suspended without pay for hosting off-duty hooker bashes.

The investigation of Taggart began last December when State Police looked into suspicions that troopers were involved in a prostitution ring that imported hookers from Canada for parties in the Buffalo area, official said.

A disciplinary hearing held last week resulted in a recommendation that he be kicked off the force, and yesterday State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico officially fired him. He could still face criminal charges.

Taggart, who had been assigned to Troop T in Buffalo, posted several photos on his Facebook page of himself dressed in gangster-style suits and posing with booze bottles and suggestively clad women.

Taggart took down the page shortly after the scandal broke open in April.

Taggart, of Amherst, NY, earned a little more than $100,000 and had strong ties to the State Police.

His father, Arthur Taggart, is a retired colonel who served on the force as a special assistant to Thomas Constantine, former State Police superintendent.

Two other troopers who were suspended with Taggart — Jeremy Smith, a 10-year veteran, and Michael Petritz, who was on the force for eight years — still face disciplinary hearings for “engaging in misconduct” but only Taggart was charged with organizing the parties.

The number of troopers implicated in the scandal grew to five yesterday when two more troopers, who also attended a party, were suspended, officials said.

They weren’t identified because they haven’t been officially notified of their suspension.