Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A New York State Trooper has resigned after admitting to jeopardizing a narcotics investigation led by the State Attorney General's Office.
State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that 35-year-old Rosalia Flower of Lancaster has admitted to leaking confidential information that put an investigation led by her office's Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) in jeopardy. The investigation led to the indictment of 17 individuals just last week for narcotics trafficking.
While monitoring wiretaps, prosecutors say Flower used her personal cellphone to take photographs containing confidential investigative information, and shared, at least, one photograph in a text message with a friend. The leaked photograph was shared with targets of the investigation, causing part of the investigation to be shut down. During the investigation, detectives with the Attorney General's Office intercepted a text message sent on July 10, 2025 from the phone of one of the investigation’s targets.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and New York State Police opened a separate investigation into the source of the photograph and leaked information. This investigation found that on July 2, 2025, Flower used her personal cellphone to take a photograph that contained confidential investigative information.
In July 2025, as part of the investigation into the leaked photograph, State Police questioned Flower about the photograph and text message. Flower at first denied that she was the individual who took the photograph and attempted to place blame on others who were involved in surveillance.
During a second round of questioning by State Police in September 2025, Flower admitted to taking the leaked photograph. She also admitted to taking other photographs of herself while on surveillance duty which she had deleted after her first interview with State Police.
On July 20, 2026, Flower was arrested and charged with the crime of Tampering with Physical Evidence (Class E felony). On the same day, she was arraigned in State Supreme Court in Buffalo and pleaded guilty to the crime of Attempted Tampering with Physical Evidence (Class A misdemeanor).
As a condition of her guilty plea, Flower submitted her letter of resignation, effective immediately, to State Police Superintendent Steven James and is barred from serving as a police or peace officer of New York State.
“We hold our law enforcement professionals to the highest standards and trust them to keep New Yorkers safe,” said James in a statement on Tuesday. “This investigation was compromised because a trooper flagrantly disregarded her duty and put law enforcement officers and New York families in danger. Despite this leak, our investigators continued their hard work and were able to successfully arrest 17 individuals for their role in narcotics trafficking. My office and our law enforcement partners will continue working to keep dangerous narcotics out of our communities.”
