Joseph Ruggiero - Elected Supervisor, together with the Town Board of Wappingers Falls, New York is honored for their perseverance to eliminate corruption in their Town and within Dutchess County, by their willingness to suspend and prosecute Wappingers Town Tax Assessor Linda Tasadfoy for allegedly preparing false Town documents and intentionally destroying Town computer file records.
Poughkeepsie Journal
Tuesday, September 16, 2003Linda Tasadfoy, who was suspended in August 2002, claims prosecutors who did not charge members of the Wappinger Board of Assessment Review in the case unfairly singled her out. The lawsuit was filed last month in federal district court in White Plains.
Her attorney, Jonathan Lovett, said his client was ''selectively prosecuted,'' even though members of the board of assessment review acknowledged they signed off on the same documents without properly reviewing them.
''My client's accused of making a single false entry,'' said Lovett, who is based in White Plains. ''They all know they're treating my client differently, but according to them, they're treating her the same,'' he said of town officials.
Unanimous vote
Last year, the town board voted unanimously to suspend Tasadfoy with pay following charges she backdated an assessment, filed it beyond an allotted time period and intentionally destroyed computer data -- relating to town business -- that belonged to a co-worker.
Tasadfoy, who makes $52,659 annually, denies she did anything wrong, Lovett said.
After investigating the initial allegations and reviewing its findings, the town board turned the investigation over to the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, Supervisor Joseph Ruggiero said.
The town disciplined Tasadfoy, Ruggiero said, because of the alleged backdated assessment that was passed on to the board of assessment review members without their knowledge and the destroyed computer files.
''(Tasadfoy) duped them,'' Ruggiero said of the BAR members. ''She duped the town, the board of assessment review and the people of the Town of Wappinger. She prepared those documents falsely.''
Town officials have received a recommendation from the disciplinary hearing officer and are expected today to make a final decision on her employment with the town.
In December, Tasadfoy pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree offering a false instrument for filing and fourth-degree criminal tampering, misdemeanors. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Disciplinary hearing transcripts obtained by the Poughkeepsie Journal show BAR members acknowledged they had signed the final assessment documents without thoroughly reading them with the belief the documents they were signing had not been altered.
The suit claims board members acknowledged during the disciplinary hearing they knowingly signed and filed 16 pages of documents with the town -- without reading them.
And although town officials were aware of this, the suit alleges, they turned a blind eye and punished only Tasadfoy.
Accusations are denied
Attorney Gerald Vergilis, who represented the town during disciplinary proceedings, said the accusations against the board members are untrue.
''Those people did nothing, nothing wrong,'' he said, referring to criminal conduct.
The charges were brought against Tasadfoy after a complaint came in to the Dutchess County District Attorney's office from the sheriff's office, according to Edward Whitesell, chief of the special investigations bureau of the DA's office.
''It came to us as a complaint made originally to the sheriff's department, and like any other investigation of a criminal complaint, we investigated ... and referred the case to grand jury,'' Whitesell said.
The lawsuit requests each of the named defendants pay punitive damages as determined by a jury and asks Tasadfoy receive compensatory damages, attorneys' fees and costs and ''further relief.''
Lovett said he expects the case involving the federal lawsuit to go to trial some time next year.
The criminal trial against Tasadfoy is expected to begin in late November.
I wish to congratulate Town of Wappingers Supervisor JOSEPH RUGGIERO for his "Intestinal Fortitude" to put forth the efforts needed as "PART OF THE CURE" for the ongoing disease of corruption within Dutchess County, New York.
I would also like to say, that I take a stand and side with Mr. Ruggiero's honorable efforts to prosecute a public official for an alleged criminal offense, but all readers must keep in mind that, "Any individual accused of a crime, is INNOCENT until proven GUILTY by a Court of Law".
Saint Angel:
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