By Jeff Lipton
The actions of Jay Seifert - the former Fourth Precinct police officer originally accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a North Woodmere park in October - can be interpreted more as receiving a bribe than a sex crime, according to a grand jury which reviewed evidence in the case.
The grand jury rejected the original charges lodged against Seifert of rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree. Instead, the jurors indicted Seifert on charges of coercion in the first degree, bribe-receiving in the third degree and official misconduct. He pleaded innocent to the new charges at his arraignment on Friday, Feb. 2 and remained free on $10,000 bond.
Seifert, 30, of Port Washington, was arrested on Oct. 7 after he was accused of stopping a car for a traffic violation and then forcing a female passenger in the car to have sex with him, officials said.
He allegedly observed a car occupied with two women make an illegal U-turn on Rockaway Turnpike at 4:45 a.m. on that day, investigators said. The police officer, who was in his patrol car and in uniform, ordered the women to follow him to Doxey Creek Park and demanded that the 30-year-old passenger exit the vehicle. He told the other woman, who was driving the car, to stay behind in the vehicle. Authorities said he then repeatedly raped and sodomized the woman, reportedly threatening to arrest her if she failed to comply with his demands for sex.
About an hour later, the passenger called police from her home and reported the attack. The officer was arrested that night, charged with rape, sodomy and official misconduct and suspended without pay.
Seifert was on a probationary period and, after working three months at the Fourth Precinct in Hewlett, he was fired from his job without a hearing on Oct. 16, after an internal investigation.
The grand jury began hearing evidence in the case on Nov. 10 and dismissed the original charges against him and unsealed the new charges on Friday, Jan. 26.
Seifert appeared before Nassau County Court Judge Donald DeRiggi for arraignment on the new charges on Feb. 2.
Coercion in the first degree and bribe-receiving in the third degree are punishable by up to seven years in prison on each count. Official misconduct is a class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum one-year prison term. Rape and sodomy carry a maximum penalty of 8 1/3-to-25 years in prison.
According to a statement from the Nassau County District Attorney's Office: "The indictment alleges that Seifert compelled the female passenger...to engage in sexual conduct by instilling in her fear that he would cause physical injury to herself and the car's driver...It also alleges that Seifert accepted the sexual conduct as a benefit in return for not enforcing the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law and for not taking appropriate police action."
In addition, the DA's Office states that Seifert, "knowingly refrained from performing a duty to enforce" the traffic law. "Instead he ordered the females to drive to a secluded location where he engaged in the sexual conduct."
Seifert is due back in court on Friday, March 9, according to the DA.
"We said it from the beginning, that these were not sex crimes here," said Seifert's attorney, Joseph Falbo of Rockville Centre. "If it's consensual, it's not sex crimes. Let's put it this way, between the two of them, he wasn't the aggressor."
He said the Nassau County Police Department sought the more serious charges as part of a "damage control" plan because one of their own was accused.
Despite the charges being significantly reduced, Seifert and his attorney still plan on challenging the grand jury indictment.
"We expect that one day he will be exonerated and he will be able to put this behind him," Falbo said. "He lost his job and he's trying to mend his marriage now.
"What he did was morally improper, but it's not illegal."
He said all the negative stories that have come out about Seifert are "all nonsense. He had an exemplary record with the New York City Police Department." He worked for the city police force for nine years before joining Nassau County's police force.
Pete Matuza, deputy inspector for the Nassau County Police Department, said when they arrested Seifert "we felt we had sufficient evidence for initial charges of rape and sodomy."
However, he said, the grand jury felt otherwise and the department accepts the decision.
"These are still serious charges," said Matuza, who added that despite the reduced charges Seifert's termination from the police force will still remain in effect.
He said the department harbors no bitterness toward the grand jury about the new charges. "Absolutely not," Matuza said. "They are a part of the [criminal justice] system, as we are. We'll just move forward with the new charges."
The charges against Seifert and another officer who was recently charged in sex attacks in a wooded area in Farmingdale "unfortunately taint all police officers," Matuza said.
"We've had a great history," he said. "We've had a very progressive police department and we will continue to provide the best service available to the public."
The department is in the process of reviewing some current policies in stopping females for questioning, but "there's nothing concrete right now," Matuza said.
