East Meadow civic leader Robert Zafonte faces six-month prison sentence

Robert Zafonte, the longtime president of the East Meadow Civic and Community Service Association, pleaded guilty on Friday to all charges placed against him, more than 18 months after he was arrested, on March 18, 2009, for falsely accusing several people in East Meadow.

Zafonte, a retired police officer for the New York City Housing Authority and former chief investigator for the Town of Hempstead Attorney's Office, is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 1. According to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter has committed to sentencing Zafonte to six months in prison followed by a five-year period of probation. 

Zafonte pleaded guilty to all charges in the indictment charging him with: seven counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, a class E felony; seven counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, also a class E felony; eight counts of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor; and five counts of Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree, also a class A misdemeanor.

Following his arrest in March, District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Zafonte targeted several “enemies,” sending threatening letters to several government agencies, between mid-2002 and November 2007. One of those victims included a former top administrator for the East Meadow School District.

“This defendant maliciously accused innocent people of horrible crimes because they dared to oppose him, resulting in costly and humiliating investigations for his victims, and now jail time for himself,” Rice said on Monday. 

The incidents

 - A letter targeted that administrator after Zafonte unsuccessfully lobbied for his daughter to be hired by the district, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, Zafonte mailed the letter to the Nassau County Comptroller’s Office alleging that the victim was stealing money from the district and depositing it into a Swiss bank account. An investigation by the Comptroller’s Office revealed no impropriety, officials said.  A second letter mailed by Zafonte contained further allegation, and then when the victim was cleared of wrongdoing once again, the defendant then made anonymous complaints to the state Office of Child and Family Services.