Ex-New York police official pleads guilty to misusing police resources
By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former New York City police official on Thursday pleaded guilty to misusing police department resources for the benefit of a businessman charged in a wide-ranging corruption case.
Former Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, 52, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan, admitting that he used his position to bestow favors on Jeremy Reichberg. Prosecutors have said the favors included giving Reichberg police escorts and allowing Reichberg and his associates to use a police helicopter and a police boat for private purposes.
Harrington was originally charged in June 2016 with bribery, but prosecutors have agreed to drop that charge.
"Mr Harrington is a highly decorated police officer who put his life on the line for 30 years serving the citizens of New York City," said Michael Weinstein, Harrington's lawyer.
Weinstein said the charge to which Harrington pleaded guilty was a "horse of a different color" from the original, more serious case.
Under the terms of a plea deal, Harrington and prosecutors have agreed that federal guidelines call for a sentence up to six months in prison.
Reichberg is expected to face trial on federal bribery charges in April, along with another police official, former Deputy Inspector James Grant.
The charges against Harrington, Reichberg and Grant came out of a wide-ranging federal corruption probe that also ensnared Norman Seabrook, former head of the union representing the city's correction officers.
Seabrook went to trial last year on charges that he accepted bribes from a co-founder of now-defunct hedge fund Platinum Partners in exchange for investing union funds in the fund. A judge declared a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict, and prosecutors have said they expect to try Seabrook again.
The star witness in that case was former real estate executive Jona Rechnitz, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Both Rechnitz and Reichberg raised money for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose fundraising practices were the subject of an investigation by federal and state prosecutors. The investigation was closed in March 2017, and no charges were brought against the mayor.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
