$10 Million Police Suit - Former cop claims false arrest and harassment

Robert Wood’s problems at home and at work became intertwined long ago, and now the former East Hampton Town police sergeant has documented them in a $10 million suit filed against the town, the village, and their top brass in United States District Court in Central Islip on Oct. 15.

The claim, which includes a charge against East Hampton Village of false arrest, accuses both police departments of violating his constitutional rights to speak freely and associate freely with his wife.

According to Mr. Wood, Village Police Chief Gerard Larsen had an affair with his wife that began in 2004 or 2005, before the Woods separated in August 2005. (The former Lisa Wood married Chief Larsen on Oct. 18.)

Mr. Wood says that the chief, along with Capt. Mike Tracey, Lt. Richard H. Schneider, and Officer Julio Mario Galeano, “selectively prosecuted” him when they accused him of foiling an undercover drug investigation in August 2007.

All are named in the suit, as are Chief Larsen, East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., Town Police Chief Todd Sarris, Town Police Capt. Kevin Sarlo, and Town Police Lt. Mike Sarlo.

Saying that the integrity of the grand jury proceeding that led to Mr. Wood’s indictment had been prejudiced, Suffolk County Criminal Court Judge Martin I. Efman dismissed the charges against him on May 16.

The judge said that the only eyewitness, Officer Galeano, who testified before the grand jury, “may have had a professional self-interest in testifying against an adversary of the police chief.”

Judge Efman wrote that the grand jury had not been made aware of prior disciplinary action against the undercover officer. He also said that the jury had been “deprived of its right to hear the full story” and that “prior disciplinary action went directly to the issue of credibility.”

Mr. Wood has maintained, and said in the suit, that he did not recognize Officer Galeano, who was under cover.

In the suit, Mr. Wood said that the village “had instituted a policy of harassing and surveilling persons of Hispanic origin under the guise of enforcing immigration and tax laws.”

“In reality,” he said, “this was merely a subterfuge to remove residents” who were convening in the village.

Mr. Wood said that when he recognized a Dodge Durango, which was usually assigned to Chief Larsen, parked near where two Hispanic men were leaning on a fence, he informed them that police were present.

Mr. Wood asserts that the village police treated him “differently in that they selectively prosecuted” him, “compared to those who were similarly situated” and that they did so, moreover, “in bad faith and with a malicious intent to injure [him] in his personal and professional life.”

Mr. Wood claims that Mayor Rickenbach ignored Mr. Wood’s concerns that Chief Larsen was driving Lisa Wood around in the village’s Durango and using it outside the police jurisdiction. The suit cites an incident in November 2006, when Mr. Wood was moving out and his wife called police to the house, which is in the jurisdiction of town officers.

Town Police Capt. Edward Ecker and Lieutenant Sarlo responded to the call. Village Police Chief Larsen and Captain Tracey did as well, in uniform and in the chief’s Durango, “despite not receiving a call from the town for backup,” the suit says.

The suit claims that Chief Larsen and Captain Tracey responded “for the purpose of intimidating Wood, bolstering Wood’s wife’s claim, and using their rank as chief and captain of an adjoining agency to influence the responding officers from the town.”

The suit also states that Mr. Wood made Freedom of Information requests for the chief’s duty charts “for the purpose of proving that Larsen was wasting taxpayer money by using village-owned and insured vehicles while engaging in personal matters” from 2004 to 2006.

The village complied, according to Mr. Wood, but then, “Larsen took issue with the village’s actions and told the responsible officials to stop sending his duty charts to Wood.”

“Thereafter, the village began to claim that no such duty charts existed, which, if true, would be in violation of the rules and procedures. . . .”

Yesterday, Mayor Rickenbach said that it would be “inappropriate to comment because it is a pending legal action.” He said an outside lawyer would be retained to defend the village, but that “he couldn’t offer the exact counsel” at press time.

Chief Larsen declined to comment other than to confirm that he and Mr. Wood’s former wife had married. Captain Tracey, Lieutenant Schneider, and Officer Galeano did not return calls seeking comment. Career Issues After his arrest in August 2007, Mr. Wood was suspended from the town police without pay, pending the preparation of disciplinary charges, the suit said. Once presented with the charges, he sought to challenge them in a hearing.

“The town has failed and refused to hold a hearing on the charges for over a year in violation of Wood’s right to due process,” the suit says. Chief Sarris would not comment on what the disciplinary charges were, but said they were for something other than the August arrest.

Mr. Wood retired as a sergeant on Nov. 30, 2007, before the disciplinary charges were heard.

Any disciplinary action, such as having sick time that was owed him taken away, could affect the amount of Mr. Wood’s payout from accrued vacation and sick time. How much sick time the sergeant had left is unclear. In 2007, he took 50 days’ time.

The suit says that the town “continues to seek Wood’s retroactive termination.” It claims that such termination has been planned for years. According to the suit, the chief, captain, and lieutenant “consistently tried to hinder Wood’s career in retaliation for his having exercised his constitutional rights.”

Chief Sarris denies the allegations. “From the town’s perspective, and I’m not going to speak on the village’s behalf, we think it’s baseless and certainly frivolous,” he said on Tuesday. “We did absolutely nothing to stifle his career.”

But Mr. Wood, who had been a police officer since 1985, claims in the suit that he was “passed over” for promotion to sergeant six times despite his being among the top three eligible candidates on the Civil Service list.

The suit claims that that was “retaliation for Wood’s union activities as a member of the [Police Benevolent Association] executive board from 1988 to 1995.”

During his time on the board, the suit says, Mr. Wood spoke out about “the mistreatment of officers” and violations of rules and regulations of the Public Employees Relations Board, as well as generally advocating for officers’ rights. Mr. Wood was promoted to sergeant in 2004, but he claims that he continued to anger Chief Sarris, Captain Sarlo, and Lieutenant Sarlo when he “spoke out” in suggesting that siting the new town police headquarters in Wainscott could pose problems.

The suit said his superiors went on “closely monitoring Wood’s activities, disciplining him for nonsensical reasons, engaging in other activity designed to hinder Wood’s career, harass him, and deter him from speaking out on such issues.”

It claims that Captain Sarlo “verbally assaulted, degraded, and insulted” him numerous times throughout 2006 and 2007. Each defendant was named individually and in his official capacity. Captain Sarlo and Lieutenant Sarlo did not return a call to comment. Steven A. Morelli, Mr. Wood’s attorney, also did not return a call to comment, and Mr. Wood declined to comment.