"NYC FIREFIGHTER COMMITS DISGRACEFUL CRIMES"

"BADGE OF DISHONOR"

March 04, 2004

Man convicted for taking relics from World Trade Center site

   By Jessica Gardner
   Times Herald-Record
   jgardner@th-record.com

   New York – A Pine Bush man retired from the New York Fire Department was convicted Tuesday for taking mementos from the World Trade Center site while volunteering in the cleanup efforts.
 

   A jury found Samuel Brandon, 61, guilty of nine counts of petty larceny, misdemeanors, for taking items from the site, including pieces of glass, a smashed police radio, a photo of a couple at their wedding reception and six ID badges – two that belonged to people killed when the towers came down.

   The six-person jury acquitted Brandon of two petty larceny charges connected to a quarter and a brass key he took. Sentencing is scheduled for April 13. Brandon's lawyer, Ronald Kliegerman of Manhattan, said Brandon could go to prison for up to two years.
 

   "It doesn't seem to me to be the type of case where you would go to jail," Kliegerman said.
 

   Police, during a search of Brandon's Pine Bush home in June 2002, confiscated a gold-framed picture displayed in his living room. In the photo, Brandon is holding up a large human hip bone he recovered while working as a volunteer at the south tower. No charges have been filed in relation to the photo. Brandon was also charged in Ulster County with possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor, in connection with the same material from Ground Zero. That case is still pending. Kliegerman said he'll try to have those charges dismissed based on "double jeopardy," which disallows someone from being tried for the same crime twice. "The property is the same property he was charged for in New York," Kliegerman said.
 

   Brandon was a member of the FDNY for 14 years before retiring over a decade ago.

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