Post by Shuftin on Jan 24, 2007 2:44:16 GMT -5
January 23, 2007
By FRANK DONNELLY
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – One was a rape victim, the other a frightened teen-ager who would have done anything to avoid spending a night in jail.
But instead of helping them, Detective Richard Vecchio, then assigned to the 123rd Precinct in Tottenville, crossed the line and took lewd photos of the women in cases that he handled three years ago, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The defendant abused his power and authority in order to obtain a benefit. The benefit was one of sexual gratification, Assistant District Attorney L.B. Eisen said yesterday in her opening statement as Vecchio’s retrial got under way in Stapleton Criminal Court. He took advantage of two vulnerable young women … by making them think it was part of his job to take sexually explicit photos of them.
Ms. Eisen, who is trying the case along with Assistant District Attorney Michael J. Bousquet, said Vecchio photographed rape victim Stacia Lipka naked in her hospital bed between Oct. 23 and 27, 2003. The photos were stored in a precinct mailbox for which only Vecchio, 42, had a key, she said.
Ms. Lipka, a former Tottenville resident, is the daughter of Angela Bowie, the ex-wife of rocker David Bowie.
Sources said the rape case ultimately was dropped because Ms. Lipka, who was then in her mid-20s, was uncooperative — a charge her lawyer denies.
Three months later, on Jan. 29, 2004, the stocky cop photographed the exposed breast and nipple ring of 18-year-old South Shore resident Kristina Sellers. Ms. Sellers was being booked at the 123rd Precinct on charges of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident. The charges were subsequently dropped in that case.
In November 2005, Vecchio’s trial on two counts of official misconduct — a Class A misdemeanor — ended in a hung jury, when a lone juror among six panelists refused to acquit him.
In a strategic move, prosecutors last week lowered the charges to attempted official misconduct, a Class B misdemeanor. Defendants charged with Class B misdemeanors are not entitled to a jury trial but can be tried by a judge.
However, the maximum penalty for a Class A misdemeanor is a year in jail, compared to three months behind bars for a Class B misdemeanor conviction.
Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. is presiding over the bench trial.
In his opening argument, defense lawyer Michael S. Berardino contended that Vecchio did not take the photos of Ms. Lipka.
He admitted his client photographed Ms. Sellers but said the pictures were not obscene and, perhaps, taken in a misguided way.
He insisted, however, that Vecchio had not committed a crime and prosecutors would not be able to prove the key element necessary to insure a conviction — that his client had specifically intended to benefit himself by taking the photos.
You cannot convict my client of being misguided, he said, as Vecchio, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, sat with pursed lips at the defense table.
Ms. Sellers was the main witness to testify yesterday.
A tall, somber-faced, dark-haired woman dressed in a gray-and-white striped sweater and gray pants, she said Vecchio and his partner, Detective John Holbert, had driven her from her home to the Tottenville station to book her for leaving the scene of an accident. Six days earlier, Ms. Sellers had rear-ended another car on Hylan Boulevard in Huguenot and admittedly fled the scene.
While she was in a holding cell, Vecchio took photos of various tattoos and piercings on her body. Just before she was released to her parents’ custody, the defendant took her into a private lunchroom, where he had her lift up her blouse and photographed her exposed, pierced breast.
Under Berardino’s cross-examination, Ms. Sellers, who was convicted of narcotics possession in October and currently is in drug rehabilitation, said Vecchio did not make any lewd comments to her.
In addition to the criminal case, Vecchio and Holbert were sued for damages in Brooklyn federal court by the alleged victims. Those actions were stayed pending the disposition of the criminal case.
Holbert was not charged in the criminal matter.
Vecchio’s criminal trial resumes today.
www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/116955815444930.xml&coll=1
By FRANK DONNELLY
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – One was a rape victim, the other a frightened teen-ager who would have done anything to avoid spending a night in jail.
But instead of helping them, Detective Richard Vecchio, then assigned to the 123rd Precinct in Tottenville, crossed the line and took lewd photos of the women in cases that he handled three years ago, a prosecutor said yesterday.
The defendant abused his power and authority in order to obtain a benefit. The benefit was one of sexual gratification, Assistant District Attorney L.B. Eisen said yesterday in her opening statement as Vecchio’s retrial got under way in Stapleton Criminal Court. He took advantage of two vulnerable young women … by making them think it was part of his job to take sexually explicit photos of them.
Ms. Eisen, who is trying the case along with Assistant District Attorney Michael J. Bousquet, said Vecchio photographed rape victim Stacia Lipka naked in her hospital bed between Oct. 23 and 27, 2003. The photos were stored in a precinct mailbox for which only Vecchio, 42, had a key, she said.
Ms. Lipka, a former Tottenville resident, is the daughter of Angela Bowie, the ex-wife of rocker David Bowie.
Sources said the rape case ultimately was dropped because Ms. Lipka, who was then in her mid-20s, was uncooperative — a charge her lawyer denies.
Three months later, on Jan. 29, 2004, the stocky cop photographed the exposed breast and nipple ring of 18-year-old South Shore resident Kristina Sellers. Ms. Sellers was being booked at the 123rd Precinct on charges of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident. The charges were subsequently dropped in that case.
In November 2005, Vecchio’s trial on two counts of official misconduct — a Class A misdemeanor — ended in a hung jury, when a lone juror among six panelists refused to acquit him.
In a strategic move, prosecutors last week lowered the charges to attempted official misconduct, a Class B misdemeanor. Defendants charged with Class B misdemeanors are not entitled to a jury trial but can be tried by a judge.
However, the maximum penalty for a Class A misdemeanor is a year in jail, compared to three months behind bars for a Class B misdemeanor conviction.
Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. is presiding over the bench trial.
In his opening argument, defense lawyer Michael S. Berardino contended that Vecchio did not take the photos of Ms. Lipka.
He admitted his client photographed Ms. Sellers but said the pictures were not obscene and, perhaps, taken in a misguided way.
He insisted, however, that Vecchio had not committed a crime and prosecutors would not be able to prove the key element necessary to insure a conviction — that his client had specifically intended to benefit himself by taking the photos.
You cannot convict my client of being misguided, he said, as Vecchio, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, sat with pursed lips at the defense table.
Ms. Sellers was the main witness to testify yesterday.
A tall, somber-faced, dark-haired woman dressed in a gray-and-white striped sweater and gray pants, she said Vecchio and his partner, Detective John Holbert, had driven her from her home to the Tottenville station to book her for leaving the scene of an accident. Six days earlier, Ms. Sellers had rear-ended another car on Hylan Boulevard in Huguenot and admittedly fled the scene.
While she was in a holding cell, Vecchio took photos of various tattoos and piercings on her body. Just before she was released to her parents’ custody, the defendant took her into a private lunchroom, where he had her lift up her blouse and photographed her exposed, pierced breast.
Under Berardino’s cross-examination, Ms. Sellers, who was convicted of narcotics possession in October and currently is in drug rehabilitation, said Vecchio did not make any lewd comments to her.
In addition to the criminal case, Vecchio and Holbert were sued for damages in Brooklyn federal court by the alleged victims. Those actions were stayed pending the disposition of the criminal case.
Holbert was not charged in the criminal matter.
Vecchio’s criminal trial resumes today.
www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/116955815444930.xml&coll=1