Top Building Department Official Pleads Guilty

 Wasserman pleads guilty to top charges, including five felonies; expected to receive a year in jail

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Tuesday that the man at the center of the DA’s sweeping 2007 probe into corruption within the Town of North Hempstead’s building department has pleaded guilty to the top charges against him, including five felonies and two misdemeanor counts that are expected to land him in jail for a year.

David Wasserman, 49, of Roslyn, has pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, four counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree and Receiving Unlawful Gratuities.  In exchange for the top-count guilty pleas, Nassau County Court Judge William Donnino has committed to sentencing Wasserman to one year in jail.  The plea also requires the surrender of Wasserman’s architectural license and that he pay $12,924 in back taxes, interest and penalties to New York State.

Rice said that while he was the top building department official Wasserman performed architectural services in the Town and doctored the plans and permit applications to conceal conflicting outside employment.  To further avoid the ethical conflict of the illegal outside income, Wasserman evaded nearly $13,000 in taxes from 2003 to 2005.  In addition, Wasserman unlawfully accepted $3,600 worth of gym memberships at the New Hyde Park LA Fitness gym in 2004.

“As the head of this department, this defendant’s actions created a culture of corruption that defied good government and eventually brought the department to a standstill,” said Rice.  “Because he was committing his own crimes while overseeing the department, he couldn’t enforce or monitor the actions of those beneath him.  It was the ‘fox watching the hen house.’  Under his leadership, numerous department employees were engaging in their own lucrative crimes because they knew the corruption started at the top.  He set the tone, and ultimately he’s responsible for the slow down in the department, and for the improvements the town has had to make since this investigation began.”

Judge Donnino is expected to formally sentence Wasserman July 1.

Tuesday’s plea is the third guilty plea in connection with a 16-month probe by the District Attorney’s Office into allegations of bribe receiving, grand larceny, official misconduct and the filing of doctored architectural plans at the Town of North Hempstead’s Building Department. 

In October of last year, Andrew Acierno, 43, of Westbury, a former plans examiner within the building department, pleaded guilty to falsifying town financial disclosure forms, filing doctored architectural permit applications, and evading personal income tax.  Acierno was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation.  He was also ordered to pay $27,828 in restitution to New York State, as well as a $5,000 fine. 

In February, former North Hempstead plumbing inspector Joseph Lomonaco, 56, of New Hyde Park, pleaded guilty to filing doctored renovation permits on his home.  As a condition of the plea, Lomonaco was forced to pay $6,324 in permitting fees and penalties to the Town of North Hempstead, and an additional $1,064.72 in restitution to Nassau County.  Rice said that the restitution order represents the taxes the defendant would have been forced to pay had he filed the permit applications in accordance with the law and had his home been accurately assessed following the illegal renovations.  Lomonaco was also placed on probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. 

Rice said that active cases remain against the former deputy commissioner of the department, Joseph Madden, and suspended building inspector Thomas McDonough. 

Deputy Chief of the DA’s Public Corruption Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Karen Bennett, along with Assistant District Attorney Michael Annibale, are handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office.  Wasserman is being represented by Joel Weiss, Esq.

The charges filed against Madden and McDonough are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.