Airmont Trustee Brian Downey pleads guilty to federal gun charge, faces 2 years in prison
AIRMONT − Village Trustee Brian Downey has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegally possessing an unregistered firearm he obtained by mail in 2021, ending his tenure on the Board of Trustees.
Downey potentially faces 18 to 24 months in federal prison under the plea agreement he signed with federal prosecutors. His sentencing is scheduled for June 1. The Journal-News/lohud obtained the agreement on Friday from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District.
"Based upon the calculations set forth above, the defendant’s stipulated Guidelines range is 18 to 24 months’ imprisonment (the “Stipulated Guidelines Range”)," according to the plea agreement. "In addition, after determining the defendant’s ability to pay, the Court may impose a fine ... At Guidelines level 15, the applicable fine range is $7,500 to $10,000."
Downey's attorney and prosecutors can seek a sentence outside the guidelines range, according to the agreement.
U.S. District Court Judge Judge Cathy Seibel will decide Downey's sentence, scheduled for June 1 at the federal courthouse in White Plains Seibel is not obligated to follow the sentencing guidelines or any recommendations from the prosecutors or the defence attorney.
Downey, a suspended Ramapo deputy building inspector who also worked part-time as a court officer, still faces dozens of state charges in Rockland County Court in New City. He's scheduled to enter a plea on Feb. 28 before Judge Larry Schwartz.
Downey is not seeking re-election to a second, four-year term in the March 21 village election. A felony conviction automatically removes him from office under the state Public Officers Law. Mayor Nathan Bubel appointed Morris Friedman as Downey's successor.
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Downey and his attorney, Andrew Quinn, didn't return several attempts at seeking comment on his federal guilty plea and the County Court case. The Rockland District Attorney's Office declined to comment.
Downey waived indictment and signed a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office on Feb. 10. He had faced a federal complaint charging him with one count of possession of unregistered firearms and one count of possession of federal badges and identification cards.
Downey admitted to receiving and possessing a PA-15 rifle that had been modified and had not been registered to him in the National Firearms Registry, according to a document filed with the U.S. District Court in White Plains.
The details involving the criminal charges are contained in a 10-page federal complaint dated Sept. 3, 2021. His attorney had been negotiating for months with federal prosecutors to avoid a grand jury presentation and a trial.
Downey was arrested at his Airmont home on Sept. 2, 2021, following a joint investigation by U.S. Homeland Security and the Rockland District Attorney's Office.
During the early morning raid in 2021 on Downey's home, investigators removed what they called an arsenal of weapons.
Downey, found with an arsenal of rifles and numerous fraudulent law enforcement badges, acknowledged to federal agents that he lacked the legal registration for several weapons found during a raid on his house, according to a federal criminal complaint.
The complaint states Downey told the agents he believed he was permitted to modify short-barrel rifles. His reasoning was he was a peace officer, according to the complaint. Downey, a part-time court officer licensed to carry a gun, also stated he understood short-barreled rifles cannot be legally possessed without specific authorization, the document states.
In what the federal complaint describes as a basement gun room, authorities seized 17 unregistered firearms and 13 firearm silencers. Many of the rifles were displayed on a rack hanging on a black wall, according to photographs in the complaint. Additional weapons were leaned against walls.
As a result of the raid, Rockland prosecutors initially charged Downey with 11 felony counts — two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, seven counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Additional counts followed from a grand jury
The investigation was conducted by the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Postal Service inspectors.
Downey has been released on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.
Downey is not seeking re-election on March 21. He won a four-year term running with Bubel and Migdalia Pesante, who is not seeking another term after a turbulent four years.
Bubel said Thursday in a statement that he's appointed Friedman to succeed Downey. Friedman resigned from the Planning Board on Thursday to take the post. He's one of Bubel's two running mates in the March election.
Downey won the election in March 2019 with Bubel and Pesante, starting a political shift in the Ramapo village along the town's southern tier. The three first-time candidates defeated incumbent Mayor Philip Gigante and trustees Paul Marchesani and Anthony Valvo of Preserve Airmont with the strong support of the village's growing Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish voters.
Bubel's running mates in March on the Airmont Forward Party line are Friedman and Lawrence O. Toole, the clerk to the Rockland Legislature and former in-law of former Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, booted from office on federal convictions.
Running on the Airmont Taxpayer Party are former Mayor and Trustee Ralph Bracco Sr. and trustee candidates Marcal Matthews and Joseph Sferrazza.
Brian Nugent, of Feerick Nugent MacCartney in South Nyack, the special counsel to Airmont, said his office has confirmed that Downey entered a plea of guilty to a felony charge in federal court.
"Pursuant to the provisions of the New York State Public Officers Law § 30, a public office in New York State is deemed automatically vacated upon the entry of a guilty plea in federal court to a felony," Nugent said. "Accordingly, Brian Downey's Village Trustee position became vacant at the moment of his plea."
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Downey loses Airmont seat on felony conviction, faces state gun charges
