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#NYPD has pattern of using ‘fraudulent’ subpoenas to get what it wants: suit

#NYPD has pattern of using ‘fraudulent’ subpoenas to get what it wants: suit

The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau issues “fraudulent,” warrant-less subpoenas to investigate rank-and-file cops and to prevent leaks to the media, a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday claims.

The subpoenas violate officers’ constitutional right to privacy and are part of a broad pattern in the department, according to the suit filed in Manhattan federal court by former cop Efrain Santiago. They are issued without a warrant or a signature by a judge, according to the suit.

The subpoenas have also been used to target journalists — including Post reporters — when the department has attempted to plug leaks to the press, the suit states.

Efrain Santiago
Efrain Santiago

Santiago’s lawyer, John Scola, said the subpoenas are designed to look like judge-approved documents, but have no “real teeth.”

“On its face, it looks like a subpoena you’d get from a judge,” Scola said. “That’s not a real subpoena, because it has to be signed by a judge. It has no real teeth.”

In the suit, Santiago claims internal affairs fraudulently obtained his phone records when they were investigating him for doing side work as a chauffeur for a man named Edwin Roa, which he started in 2012.

Unbeknownst to Santiago, Roa was a parolee with a criminal history, according to the suit.

In 2014, the NYPD charged him for associating with a felon and forced him, following a departmental trial, to accept 40 days of docked pay, the suit states.

A year later in 2015, the department again brought Santiago up on charges — this time for allegedly lying about contacting Roa and for associating with a felon, at which point investigators obtained his phone records from his carrier via an allegedly fraudulent subpoena.

He learned years later, during a 2018 meeting with internal affairs, that investigators in the department knew about phone calls he had with Roa because of one of the “fraudulent” subpoenas they sent to get his phone records.

Santiago argued in the suit that he was calling Roa in an attempt to recoup a car he used for the chauffeur business and to ask for money that Roa owed him for the work.

He added that the department issued the subpoena for his phone records “under the guise of criminal investigation,” which, Santiago claimed, did not actually exist.

The department “mislead the recipients of these fraudulent subpoenas in an effort to strong arm the recipient into turning over the records,” the suit states.

Efrain Santiago

For background, Santiago included in the suit evidence that issuing warrant-less subpoenas is a pattern in the NYPD.

He included reference to a Post article that explained how the department tried to subpoena Twitter for New York Post police bureau chief Tina Moore’s account data after she posted a leaked crime scene photo.

“The NYPD attempted to cite a post 9/11 anti-terrorism law to trick Twitter into complying with the invalid and illegal subpoena,” the suit states.

Former NYPD cop Efrain Santiago

“The illegal subpoena directed Twitter to ‘produce all device and contact information associated with the user handle @Tinamoorereport as well as all the handle’s connection history between October 9, and October 14, 2019.’ The illegal subpoena further tells Twitter not to inform the reporter for 90 days, so as to not interfere with the investigation,” the suit adds.

“After getting caught in their fraudulent scheme, the NYPD withdrew their subpoena,” the suit states.

In addition to the claim that his right to privacy was violated by the subpoena, Santiago also claims he was unfairly punished by the department because of his race.

“I have never done anything that warranted such investigation and treatment,” Santiago said in a statement.

“What hurts most, is that I was penalized much more severely and treated with a level of disdain that white cops are not. They are allowed to continue with their careers, enjoying their financial wealth, while minority cops are forced to suffer,” he added.

He is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.

“Any assertion that the NYPD uses fake documents to elicit information it can legally obtain through long established and legally accepted avenues is baseless,” said DCPI Spokesperson Sergeant Jessica McRorie. “That said, we will review the lawsuit if and when we are served.”

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