Former New York state trooper pleads guilty to faking his own shooting

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Former New York state trooper pleads guilty to faking his own shooting

2025-05-22 03:46 Last Updated At：03:51

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York state trooper pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he shot himself then falsely claimed he was wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway, prompting a regionwide search.

Thomas Mascia agreed to serve six months in jail, followed by five years probation and continued mental health treatment as he formally changed his not guilty plea during a court appearance in Nassau County court in Mineola.

He also agreed, as part of his plea deal, to pay $289,000 in restitution for the overtime costs for officers during the three-day search for a nonexistent suspect.

The 27-year-old West Hempstead resident had been charged with official misconduct, tampering with evidence and falsifying documents. He became a trooper in 2019 and resigned in January after being suspended without pay while state police launched a criminal investigation into the shooting.

Mascia’s parents, Dorothy and Thomas, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing an illegal firearm, which was found during a search of the family's home.

Mascia claimed he was shot in the leg on Oct. 30 by a driver parked on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway, about a mile from his home.

Instead, prosecutors say, he staged the scene of the alleged shooting by scattering shell casings, then shot himself at a park, stashed the .22-caliber rifle, drove back to the highway and called for backup.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said after Wednesday’s hearing that “one of the most disturbing parts” of the case was that he intentionally set in motion a potentially dangerous search.

Mascia described the fictitious driver as a “dark-skinned” man wearing a balaclava that exposed only his eyes. He also claimed the suspect fled in a car bearing temporary New Jersey plates heading toward New York City.

“If someone had been stopped that fit the description? Who knows what would have happened?" the district attorney said. "It’s just a frightening thought."

Donnelly said the ruse was an apparent bid to gain sympathy from a former girlfriend and that state police are also looking into an accident Mascia was involved in while serving as a trooper upstate.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, prosecutors asked the former trooper a series of questions confirming the sequence of events.

“You knew this was a lie and chose to do it anyway?” Jared Rosenblatt of the district attorney’s office asked at the end of the questions.

“Yes,” Mascia replied in a low voice.

The former trooper and his parents didn't respond to reporters as they left the courthouse with their lawyers. They're scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20.

The family had appeared in court earlier this month to change their pleas, but the judge at the time halted the proceedings after Mascia said he did not feel well mentally.

Jeffrey Lichtman, Mascia’s lawyer, said after the hearing that his client was suffering from an undiagnosed mental health problem at the time of the shooting and is now being treated.

“While this is a dark day for him, he is happy to put this in the past and move forward with his life," he said. "He apologizes to anyone affected by his lapse in judgment and hopes his community will forgive him.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

Hundreds more in Venezuela say their loved ones are political prisoners

GUANARE, Venezuela (AP) — Freedom came too late for Edilson Torres.

The police officer was buried Tuesday in his humble, rural hometown following his death in a Venezuelan prison, where he was held incommunicado since being detained in December on what his family said were politically motivated accusations.

Torres, 51, died of a heart attack Saturday, just as his family awaited the government's promised release of prisoners following the U.S. capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. The loss left his family reeling.

Now scores of families — who once hesitated to approach advocacy groups — are coming forward to register their loved ones as “political prisoners" in the hope that they might have a more optimistic future than Torres.

Foro Penal, which tracks and advocates for Venezuelan prisoners, has received a “flood of messages” from families since last week, said Alfredo Romero, director of the nongovernmental organization.

“They didn’t report it out of fear, and now they’re doing it because, in a way, they feel that there is this possibility that their families will be freed,” Romero said. “They see it as hope, but more importantly, as an opportunity.”

The head of Venezuela’s national assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, said last week that a “significant number” of Venezuelan and foreigners imprisoned in the country would be released as a gesture to “seek peace” following the operation that captured Maduro in the early hours of Jan. 3. The U.S. and Venezuela's opposition have long demanded the widespread release of detained opposition figures, activists and journalists, whom they claim are used as a political tool by the ruling party.

Venezuela’s government denies that there are prisoners unjustly detained, accusing them of plotting to destabilize Maduro’s government.

Following Torres' death, Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab said in a statement that the case had been assigned to a terrorism unit and “was linked to criminal activities detected by state security agencies.” He did not offer any details, but the vague language tracks with past accusations leveled against real or perceived government critics.

Romero said that of the roughly 300 families who reached out to Foro Penal, about 100 cases so far have been confirmed as politically motivated. Most of those reported over the past few days, he said, once worked for Venezuela's military. That is on top of more than 800 people that the organization says continue to be detained for political reasons in Venezuela.

As of Tuesday evening, Foro Penal had confirmed 56 prisoners it said were detained for political reasons had been freed. The group criticized the lack of government transparency over the releases. Venezuela’s government negated the organization's count, and reported a far higher figure of 400 Tuesday afternoon.

But the government did not provide evidence of the releases, a time range in which they were carried out nor identify those freed, making it impossible to determine whether those freed were behind bars for political or other reasons.

Before Torres' funeral on Tuesday, a procession of cars and motorcycles stopped at a local jail, where his wife remains detained on disputed accusations.

“My little brother, my little brother,” Emelyn Torres said between sobs after his casket, cloaked in Venezuela's flag, arrived at her home for the wake. A few feet away, their grandmother nearly fainted as dozens of people crammed into the living room to pay their respects.

Hours earlier, as a minivan transported the body of her brother 267 miles (430 kilometers) from the capital, Caracas, to Guanare, Torres learned that other men linked to the WhatsApp group that led to her brother's arrest had just been released from prison. She wailed.

Among those who have been released are: human rights attorney Rocío San Miguel, who immediately relocated to Spain; Biagio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado’s 2024 presidential campaign; and Enrique Márquez, a former electoral authority and presidential candidate.

Italian businessman Marco Burlò, who was released from prison Monday, told reporters outside a Rome airport Tuesday that he was kept isolated throughout his detention, which he characterized as a “pure and real kidnapping.”

“I can’t say that I was physically abused, but without being able to talk to our children, without the right to defense, without being able to speak to the lawyer, completely isolated, here they thought that I might have died,” he said.

The small set of releases over the past few days continues to fuel criticisms by families, human rights watchdogs at the United Nations and U.S. politicians, who have accused the government of not following through on their word of a wider release.

But the rapid political shifts in the Latin American nation and the distant possibility of release simultaneously marked a rare moment of hope for many families who have spent years wondering if their loved ones would ever be freed.

Part of the reason that Romero said he believed so many people had not come forward is the government's ongoing crackdown on dissent since Venezuela's tumultuous 2024 election, which Maduro claimed to have won despite ample credible evidence to the contrary.

As mass street protests broke out, authorities said they detained more than 2,000 people. In the month after July elections, Venezuela's government passed a law — dubbed the “anti-NGO law” by critics — making it easier for the government to criminalize human rights groups.

That had a chilling effect, Romero said, making families hesitant to come forward — until now.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america