NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A trio of current and former NYPD officers have been arrested and charged with sending car accident victims to a specific tow trucking and automobile repair business in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash bribes, prosecutors say.
Current NYPD officers Heather Busch, 34, of Massapequa, and Robert Hassett, 36, of Farmingville were charged with five counts of using interstate facilities to commit bribery and two counts of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a press release.
Retired NYPD officer Robert Smith, 44, of Plainview, faces the same charges, prosecutors said. He has also been charged with attempting to transport at least one kilogram of heroin and possessing a firearm, the attorney's office said.
All three were assigned to the 105th Precinct in Queens, which serves neighborhoods including Queens Village, Cambria Heights, Rosedale and Laurelton.
"As alleged, the defendants shamelessly violated their oaths of office and the public trust by trading their badges for cash payments," Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said in a statement.
"Behavior like the type alleged today is a disgrace," he added. "It erodes public trust in law enforcement and tarnishes the reputations of the many thousands of officers who honorably serve our communities on a daily basis."
Prosecutors say Smith and Hassett started directing automobile accident victims to an acquaintance's tow trucking and automobile repair shop in September 2016, instead of using the NYPD's "Directed Accident Response Program," which randomizes the tow trucking selection process to avoid favoritism.
The two stopped participating in the scheme around June 2017, but not before raking in thousands of dollars in "cash bribe payments," prosecutors said.
Smith relaunched the scheme in November 2019, with plans to recruit Busch to take over when he retired from the police force, according to prosecutors. Busch officially took over in March of last year, the attorney's office said.
In addition to those charges, Smith and Hasset have also been charged with using the NYPD's databases to search for automobile accident victims' personal information.
Beginning in January of last year, the two cops sold crash victims' personal information to physical therapy businesses and personal injury law firms, which in turn tried to recruit the victims as customers, prosecutors said.
Smith has also been charged with trying to get involved in a drug trafficking scheme that involved transporting heroin in exchange for cash after he retired from the NYPD, according to prosecutors.
Smith faces up to life imprisonment on the drug trafficking charge; Hassett and Busch, meanwhile, face up to five years in prison on each bribery count, as well as five years in prison on the conspiracy to violate the Travel Acts count, the attorney's office said.
Attorney information for the three wasn't immediately available Tuesday.
