Garden City Postal Worker Arrested in Predator Sting

Tinghitella sent explicit images of himself to an Ohio detective posing as a 14-year-old girl

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that investigators from her online predator unit have arrested a Garden City postal employee for sending sexually explicit photos of himself to an online user he believed was a 14-year-old girl. In reality, the “14-year-old girl” was a Massillon, Ohio police department detective.

Michael Tinghitella, 49, of Mineola, was arrested this morning by DA Investigators as he arrived to work at the Stewart Avenue post office in Garden City. He has been charged with four counts of Attempted Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He will be arraigned later today in First District Court Hempstead. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted of the charges.

Rice said that on four separate occasions Tinghitella sent the undercover detective, “Brittany,” explicit photos and a video of himself. Tinghitella used a computer in his Mineola home and a screen name provided by America Online to disseminate the material.

“The goal of my online predator unit is to pull these predators out from behind their anonymous computer screens and put them in jail where they belong,” said Rice. “We want to make sure that these individuals find a police detective online before they find one of our children.”

Following today’s arrest, Rice praised the work of the Massillon Police Department and the United States Postal Service’s Inspector General for their work on this case.

Handling the case for the DA’s Office is the DA’s Technology Crimes Unit.  Representing Tinghitella is William Sandback, Esq.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.