NEW YORK – Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman was arrested Wednesday on charges that he illegally claimed overtime from his employer the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
As alleged in the criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday, from January 2011 to April 2014, Edward M. Walsh Jr., a Correction Officer III Investigator, falsely represented to the Sheriff’s Office that he had worked certain regular and overtime hours when, in fact, he did not.
Contrary to his representations, Walsh, of East Islip, New York, was, among other things, playing golf, gambling at Foxwoods Casino, or performing work on behalf of the Suffolk County Conservative Party.
In reliance on Walsh’s false representations, the Sheriff’s Office paid Walsh approximately $80,000 in wages for regular and overtime hours he did not work.
To conceal his scheme, Walsh allegedly lied to FBI agents, claiming that he worked flex time or was on the telephone regarding his work at the Sheriff’s Office even while at the golf course.
Wash has had previous brushes with the law, according to Newsday.
Newsday reported that civil service and sheriff’s records from Walsh’s background check show in 1988 he tested positive for the barbiturate phenobarbital in a failed bid to work for the NYPD and was arrested in 1984 as a University of Maryland student and sentenced to 12 months’ probation for a misdemeanor sex offense. Walsh did not disclose the Maryland arrest on his application, as is required, Newsday reported.
Walsh was arrested again on a felony criminal mischief charge in 1989, less than a year before he applied to work for the sheriff’s office. He ultimately pleaded guilty to a violation, according to the documents.
Two years ago, Newsday reported that Suffolk County law enforcement officials raided a Medford business and discovered illegal gambling, drugs and more than two dozen people, including Walsh.
Although he was not among those arrested, Walsh’s presence amid illegal activity sparked an investigation, the results of which have never been made public, Newsday stated.