"NYC FIREFIGHTER COMMITS DISGRACEFUL CRIMES"

"BADGE OF DISHONOR"

February 24, 2004

Pine Bush man took World Trade Center 'souvenirs,' prosecutors say

   By Jessica Gardner
   Times Herald-Record
   jgardner@th-record.com
   
   New York – A Manhattan jury will decide the fate of a Pine Bush man accused of stealing personal affects – including charred identification cards – from the World Trade Center site while taking part in clean-up efforts.
 

   Samuel Brandon, a retired New York City firefighter, faces 11 misdemeanor counts of petty larceny in connection with items police found in his Pine Bush home in June 2002.
 

   Those items included two pieces of glass, a smashed police or fire department radio, a quarter, a photo of a couple at their wedding reception and six employee ID cards, some belonging to people listed as missing after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
 

   Police confiscated a gold-framed picture displayed in Brandon's living room. In the photo, Brandon, 61, 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 photograph.
 

   "Most of the IDs are melted or burned or charred; I don't know why anybody would want a charred ID card," Brandon's lawyer, Ronald Kliegerman, of Manhattan, said. "And nobody even knows who's in the wedding reception photo. The things he took were valueless."
 

   Brandon was a member of FDNY for 14 years and had been retired for more than a decade at the time of the terrorists attacks that brought down the Trade Center towers. He was a volunteer at the site, helping to recover the remains of victims.
 

   Authorities learned of the items after a potential home buyer toured Brandon's house. During the tour, Brandon mentioned that he had some personal affects he'd acquired from the World Trade Center site.
 

   The potential home buyer went to state police with the information. Shortly afterward, two undercover investigators posing as a couple searching for a new home went to Brandon's Route 52 home, where he showed them the glass and the broken radio. An official search soon followed.
 

   According to Kliegerman, prosecutors will have to prove Brandon didn't have permission from the rightful owner to have the items found in his home.
 

   "I don't see any owners testifying at this trial," Kliegerman said. "Nothing was taken with the view of depriving the family of anything."
 

   Brandon, who still lives in the same Pine Bush home, did not return calls for comment.
 

   Three of the six jurors required in a misdemeanor case were selected yesterday, according to New York County district attorney's office spokeswoman Sherry Hunter. Selection continues today.
 

   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.
 

   The criminal complaint alleges that Brandon admitted to collecting other "souvenirs" from Ground Zero that he had already given away to family members as gifts.

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