Ossining Cop Arrested, Charges with Falsifying Threats: Two OPD Cops Sue Chief Sylvester; Sexual Liaison Alleged Between Sylvester and Hirshowitz
Ossining Police Officer Emily Hirshowitz, left, with Chief Kevin Sylvester
By Dan Murphy
Several recent stories, arrests and lawsuits involving the Ossining Police Department could be used for a movie script. One officer was recently arrested, two other former officers have filed lawsuits against the Village and Police Chief Kevin Sylvester, and one of the suits alleges a sexual relationship between Sylvester and another Ossining cop.
The first story surfaced last week, when a criminal complaint was filed against OPD Officer Emily Hirshowitz. The complaint was filed by Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah’s office, and alleges that Hirshowitz sent herself threatening emails and text messages that she claimed were sent by other members of the OPD.
Hirshowitz, 36, who has been with the OPD since 2016, had filed reports last year with the DA’s office claiming that she was a victim of threats and harassment, claiming ”a fellow police officer or multiple police officers at my department are involved.”
But DA Investigators uncovered that the texts and emails were sent from Hirshowitz’s own devices, according to the complaint filed by Westchester DA Investigator Michael Garcia last month.
Hirshowitz was arrested on June 28 and charged with three counts of offering a false instrument for filing and four counts of falsely reporting an incident. She is on paid leave from the OPD. Hirshowitz lives in Peekskill. Prior to joining the OPD, she served in the New Rochelle Police Department for two years.
Media reports claim that the messages called for Hirshowitz to commit suicide, and other demeaning comments. One odd fact about this case is that another individual was captured on some of the screen shots that Hirshowitz originally gave the DA’s office.
Next was the filing of a lawsuit against OPD Commissioner Kevin Sylvester by two former Ossining cops.
Former officers Louis Rinaldi and Andrea Zambrano claim in court documents that Sylvester created a unhealthy working environment that forced both to resign, including claims by Rinaldi that Sylvester accused him of substance abuse and domestic violence occurrences.
The lawsuit claims that Sylvester tried to get Rinaldi’s fiancé to testify against him, and also claims that Sylvester intervened against him when he tried to get a job with the Greenburgh Police Department.
Andrea Zambrano claims that Sylvester refused to comply with medical recommendations for her and her attempts to go on family medical leave. Zambrano’s attempts to get a job with the Westchester County Police were also thwarted by Sylvester according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims that the OPD under Sylvester used license plate readers to track the off-duty locations of officers and their vehicles.
Sylvester became chief in 2016 at the age of 35. He is President of the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police.
The lawsuit against Sylvester also claims that the Chief “was having an ongoing sexual relationship,” with Hirshowitz, and that Sylvester tried to blame Officer Rinaldi as the person sending the threatening texts to Hirshowitz.
Sylvester also filed complaints with the Westchester DA’s office last year over the threatening texts, which DA Investigators have found to be phony, and sent by Hirshowitz herself.
“Sylvester … conducted numerous interviews of police officers, directly asking each officer if they were aware the Officer [Louis] Rinaldi was sending the texts to Officer Emily Hirshowitz,” the lawsuit claims.
And “despite having no evidence to support his accusations,” tried to put the blame on Rinaldi.
After Hirshowitz’s recent arrest, the suit claims that Sylvester still attempted to protect her. “Sylvester told [village officials] that Hirshowitz had been set up by Plaintiffs Rinaldi and Zambrano and personally recommended she not be suspended without pay.”
While Hirshowitz was suspended with pay, officers Rinaldi and Zambrano were suspended without pay. Both officers have resigned.
Village attorneys claim the allegations in the suit are “ludicrous,” but the one unanswered question is who was the other person identified in the criminal complaint filed by a DA Investigator that someone else other than Hirshowitz had sent some of the threatening texts?
