Sharpe directed one of his detectives to return the stolen property to the school administrator and to obtain her signature on a withdrawal of prosecution form on Sept. 1, 2009, the district attorney said. The administrator accepted the property, but refused to sign the withdrawal form.

Despite her refusal, Rice said, Sharpe instructed a subordinate to enter a “close-out” memorandum in the NCPD computer system on Sept. 19, 2010, falsely claiming that the school administrator did not want Zachary Parker arrested.

Sharpe, Hunter and Flanagan were arrested and charged in March 2012. A jury convicted Flanagan of two counts of official misconduct and one count of sixth-degree conspiracy in February 2013. Last July, Cohen sentenced him to 60 days in jail, 420 hours of non-law enforcement community service and a $1,000 fine.

Like Sharpe, Hunter pleaded guilty to the charges he faced in connection with the case, which included two counts of official misconduct and sixth-degree conspiracy, in May 2013. Cohen sentenced him to three years of probation and 500 hours of non-law enforcement community service, in addition to being required to film a police training video to help recruits avoid his mistakes.

Anthony Grandinette, Sharpe’s Mineola-based attorney, said in a written statement that Sharpe’s decision to plead guilty was a practical one to end a two-year legal battle and avoid a potentially two-month trial.

Grandinette said his client continues to maintain that his involvement in the case was limited to facilitating the return of recovered stolen property to Kennedy High School for the use and enjoyment of the student body on orders by a two-star division chief and a police deputy commissioner. He added that both men “expressly represented that the school district and the Parker family had resolved the matter civilly.”

“Absolutely nothing that happened today changes the fact that Al Sharpe is a great husband, father and proud retired police officer who dedicated 27 years of honorable service to the residents of Nassau County," Grandinette said.