By: Michael Seinberg
There have been plenty of lawsuits over police brutality, but in a new twist, here’s one over police ardor. 42-year-old Tara Obenauer, a Wall Street compliance officer, had a 7 month affair with a 43-year-old married Nassau cop named Mike Tedesco. The affair ended when one of Obenauer’s neighbors called the Nassau PD to report that a police car was constantly parked in Obenauer’s driveway.
According to GPS records, the car in question had visited the address in question some 57 times and Obenauer even suggested Tedesco had spent “over 100 nights” with her. According to her story, he would spend up to 4 hours a night with her and her children during his assigned work shifts, so you could really call it a family affair. “He would be at my house for hours during his shift, hanging out in his uniform on the couch, watching TV with my kids, taking a nap,” Obenauer, who is single, but has children from a prior relationship, told the media.
Now, with her reputation “completely tarnished” and suffering from “severe….emotional and psychological damages,” according to her attorney, Frank Perrone. She has filed papers to sue Nassau County for $10 million for failure to supervise Tedesco. Failure to supervise? Really?
So let’s recap here. She enters a consensual adult relationship with a married cop who puts his job in jeopardy to spend time with her and when the whole thing blows up due to a nosey neighbor, she’s the one who’s injured? Umm, on what planet does this logic make sense?
I think the more likely scenario here is really about money. Our erstwhile Wall Streeter once told the New York Times back in 1992 that she decided to skip law school so she could dance at a gentleman’s club called Stringfellows. “I can make $1,000 a night or more, if I really work at it,” the then 21-year-old was quoted as saying. That sort of entrepreneurial sprit is obviously what led her to a career on Wall Street and now to a career as a plaintiff. Next she’ll probably run for Congress.
The sheer absurdity of her assertion, the amount of money demanded, and the fact that her cop boyfriend is now suddenly retired from the force, though still getting his pension, really makes you wonder why a judge doesn’t toss this one and charge her and her attorney with contempt. If you can believe it, Obenauer even wrote a letter of apology to Tedesco’s wife, who, for the moment, is standing by her man.
If you’re really looking for a winnable case, Nassau County should sue Obenauer for obstruction of justice and interfering with the duties of a police officer.
An Internal Affairs cop was busted by the NYPD that he usually investigates after he allegedly bought an iPhone on the street for $15 from a fellow police officer.
A SERGEANT from an NYPD bureau that roots out bad cops has been charged with buying a stolen iPhone in a sting set up by his fellow officers, the Daily News has learned.
Internal Affairs Bureau Sgt. Victor Leandry was scooped up in a Dec. 3 sting in Washington Heights after buying a $15 Apple device from a plainclothes cop on the street — but his lawyer said he can’t be charged because he was never told the phone was hot.
“Tourists flock to this city every day from other countries to engage in the experience of buying goods on the streets of New York City,” said the lawyer, John D’Alessandro. “There is nothing criminal about it.”
Police in recent months have focused on bodegas and other small businesses suspected of paying teens to steal handheld electronic devices — especially Apple products — so they can be sold on the black market.
In the sting in question, police set out to sell “stolen” devices to merchants in Washington Heights, D’Alessandro said.
Instead, he said, a female officer approached Leandry near Broadway and W. 161st St., then badgered him until he agreed to buy the phone for $15, the only money he had on him.
“He absolutely denies it was offered as stolen property,” the lawyer said. “It was a poorly planned operation.
There’s no video … and we end up with a sergeant who has his reputation dragged through the mud.”
Leandry, 38, was charged with possession of stolen property and issued a desk appearance ticket. He is due in court Jan. 15.
The NYPD had no comment. It did not notify the media of the incident as it typically does when an officer is arrested.
Leandry could not be reached for comment, but Rafael Quinones, a friend of the family, says Leandry regularly visits his mother in Harlem.
“Anybody who comes to visit his mom every day is a nice person,” said Quinones, 65.
Given his position in Internal Affairs, Leandry might have known better than to buy an Apple phone on the street at such a low cost.
But his lawyer said cheap iPhones are often available when owners upgrade and sell off the now-obsolete model.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/busted-cops-sting-article-1.1219840#ixzz2F7PIApL9