NYPD SERGEANT PLEADS GUILTY TO PERJURY AND CONDUCTING UNLAWFUL SEARCHES

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the guilty plea of WILLIAM EISEMAN, 39, a Sergeant in the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), for lying under oath and conducting unlawful searches and seizures in Northern Manhattan. EISEMAN pled guilty to the top charge in his indictment, Perjury in the First Degree, as well as three counts of Official Misconduct. He is expected to be sentenced on September 6, 2011. A separately charged defendant, NYPD Officer MICHAEL CARSEY, 30, has been charged with Perjury, Offering a False Instrument for Filing, and Official Misconduct, and is next due in court on August 29, 2011.

“Perjury is an extremely serious crime,” said District Attorney Vance. “This defendant was supposed to train the next generation of police officers to patrol high-crime areas. Instead, he abused his authority and lied under oath, violating the public’s trust. His guilty plea to a felony means that he will be removed from the police force, and will no longer be able to represent New York’s Finest.”

According to NYPD records, EISEMAN joined the department in 1997. In 2007, he was promoted to sergeant and was assigned to the Impact Response Team (“IRT”), where he was responsible for supervising and training newly-hired police officers. The IRT is primarily comprised of recent Police Academy graduates assigned to patrol high crime neighborhoods throughout Manhattan. In late 2007, EISEMAN was transferred to the Manhattan North Task Force, where he continued to supervise and train junior police officers. CARSEY graduated from the Police Academy and was assigned to the IRT in June of 2007, where he worked under the supervision of EISEMAN.

According to his guilty plea, EISEMAN was involved in at least three incidents of misconduct documented between August 2007 and the summer of 2008. Each involved unlawful stops and detentions of civilians in Northern Manhattan, which sometimes led to unlawful searches as well. Where the searches led to the recovery of contraband, EISEMAN ordered his subordinates to falsify their police paperwork in order to make the stops and searches appear legitimate.

In the first incident, which is disclosed in documents filed in court, an unlawful stop and detention led to a court-authorized search warrant in which the civilian’s apartment was searched as well. In that case, EISEMAN falsely testified under oath at a hearing conducted by a New York County Supreme Court judge considering the legality of the arrest and the admissibility of the evidence seized. Because of the defendant’s conduct, that criminal case was ultimately dismissed, and the individuals were not punished.

According to court documents, the second incident occurred in July 2008, when Eiseman recovered cocaine from inside the trunk of a car that he unlawfully searched. Eiseman ordered subordinates to falsify police reports and tell the District Attorney’s Office that drugs had been recovered during a search at the precinct, rather than at the scene. The case connected to that incident has since been dismissed.

Later that same month, Eiseman ordered the unlawful detention of two individuals after searching their car, according to documents filed in court. No contraband was discovered, but the two were issued a false summons for reckless driving in order to justify the initial stop and subsequent detention.

District Attorney Vance thanked Assistant District Attorney Charles Linehan of the Official Corruption Unit and Assistant District Attorney Julio Cuevas, Deputy Chief of the Official Corruption Unit, who handled the prosecution of the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Luke Rettler, Chief of the Official Corruption Unit, and Executive Assistant District Attorney Adam Kaufmann, Chief of the Investigation Division. Investigator Alex Farrugia assisted in the investigation under the supervision of the District Attorney’s Investigation Chief John Bilich and Deputy Chief Walter Alexander.

District Attorney Vance also thanked Chief Charles Campisi and Captain Gregory Sheehan of the Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD.


Defendant information:

WILLIAM EISEMAN, D.O.B. 4/12/72
Paterson, NY

Convicted:
• Perjury in the First Degree, class D felony, 1 counts
• Official Misconduct, class A misdemeanor, 3 counts

MICHAEL CARSEY, D.O.B. 10/16/80
Garden City, NY

Charges:
• Perjury in the First Degree, class D felony, 3 counts
• Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, class E felony, 1 count
• Official Misconduct, class A misdemeanor, 1 count

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