Politics & Government

Legislator: Levy Administration Edited Hate Crimes Report

DuWayne Gregory calls for ethics investigation into County Executive's interference, as chief deputy denies wrongdoing.

Suffolk County's Hate Crimes Task Force believes that the county executive has compromised their work by illegally obtaining and editing a draft copy of their report.

Legis. DuWayne Gregory, D-Amityville, accused Levy's office of deleting 52-pages from the hate crimes report that contained critical public testimony then delaying it from reaching task force members for timely review at a Tuesday press conference.

The legislator revealed an allegedly 98-page report that he said was missing critical verbatim testimony given at the task forces' four public hearings held from June 2009 – September 2009 following the murder of Patchogue immigrant Marcelo Lucero. As task force chairman, he said the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council drafting the report had given a 150-page count during task force meetings.

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"Steve Levy deleted the public testimony, which at this point was the most critical, as you had people who said he was solely responsible for fostering an atmosphere for hate crimes," Gregory said.

In addition, the legislator said the reports receipt was delayed by Levy to prevent adequate review by the task force. Gregory said he received it Dec. 23, days before the Dec. 31,2010 deadline.

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Edward Dumas, chief deputy to Levy, admitted to receiving a 97-page copy of the hate crimes report Dec. 15.  In discussion with the CJCC, Dumas said he's unsure where the 150-page estimate derived from.

"In reviewing the report as I did, it was very important to ensure the material supplied by the administration through the police department was complete and accurate so when the task force members got it there was no misinformation, " Dumas said.

He claimed his only recommendation was a table of contents before Suffolk County Police Department's material, resulting in final 98-pages.  

The legislator called this justification "ridiculous" highlighting there are two Suffolk County Police Department members on the 13-member task force: Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Police's Hate Crimes unit, and Inspector Aristedes Mojica, commanding officer of the 5th Precinct.

Dumas refuted stating if the report had disseminated misinformation, it would be more difficult to clarify after the fact.

"We believe [Dumas] didn't' have the authority to review the report at that point. After the task force had reviewed the report and distributed it would have been when the county executive could have legally and ethically responded. To do it before the report was a breach of confidence," said Luis Valenzuela, executive director of the Long Island Immigrant Association.

Gregory had a meeting with the CJCC at 3 p.m. Tuesday that he said felt the department dismissed as a miscommunication* An earlier 134-page working copy of the draft report was furnished, Gregory said, but seemed still short of the 150-pages expected. 

The legislator also plans on filing an ethics complaint for further investigation. The Hate Crimes Task Force report will be finished by staff members of the legislature, Gregory said, to ensure its accuracy. 

"One of the goals of the task force was to show the community there would be transparency in the reporting … and this at the very least dilutes that, " said task force member Renee Ortiz, chief deputy clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature and co-chair of the Latino Jewish Council.

Dumas said the CJCC member who drafted the report was working on an affidavit to refute the legislator's accusations. 

Editor: This article was updated at 4 p.m. with details of Gregory's meeting with the CJCC. 


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