Posted by Lisa Finn
The officer involved in an
alleged East Hampton sex scandal has been suspended, according to police.
Julio Mario Galeano, 31, has
been suspended for 30 days without pay after an alleged sexual encounter he had
in a village home, East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen confirmed
Monday.
The East Hampton Village board
voted to suspend Galeano without pay on Friday, pending his trial, which is
slated to take place within the next 30 days, Larsen said.
According to The New York Post,
"law-enforcement sources" identified Galeano as the village cop
facing disciplinary action — and possible criminal charges over an alleged
sexual encounter he had in a village house he didn't have permission to be at.
Galeano was relieved from duty
and another village employee was fired following a complaint of criminal
trespass at a house in the village in December.
According to a previously
released incident report, the two were caught a house on Talmage Lane after
guests of the homeowner arrived on Dec. 30 at about 11 a.m. They did not have the homeowner's permission
to be there, according to police.
Neither the officer nor the
woman, whom Larsen described in a statement as a 20-year-old part-time civilian
employee, have been charged.
"At this point in time
criminal charges have yet to be filed in the case at the request of the
property owner; however, this will not preclude the department from filing
misconduct or other charges in the case, should they be warranted," Larsen
said in the statement last month.
The employment of Jennifer
Rosa, a part-time traffic control officer, was terminated, a move approved by
the East Hampton Village Board at their monthly meeting, effective
retroactively to Dec. 30.
The woman was allegedly a
part-time house cleaner at the residence, Larsen said.
The officer, a nine-year
employee, was relieved of his badge and firearm on Dec. 30 and he remains on
leave, Larsen said last month.
An internal investigation of
the incident is continuing, and further departmental action against Galeano is
expected, police said initially.
The pair have not been charged,
though the initial incident report and the chief stated that he homeowner did
wish to pursue charges.
Last January, Galeano was named
the department's 2012 Officer of the Year and was honored at the annual Kiwanis
Club dinner.
Galeano was selected, in part,
because of his tenacity that led to bringing forth a rape case, officials said
at the time. In January of 2012, Galeano was turning around at the rest stop in
Wainscott, at the western edge of the department's jurisdiction, when he
noticed some movement in a parked vehicle.
"Somebody else might have
kept on driving right by," Larsen said, at the time, of Galeano's quick
thinking during the initial investigation. "He's done a great job his
entire career," he said last year.
Galeano joined the department
after graduating from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He
was the first, and remains the only, Latino officer in the department.
A Springs resident, he started
working for the village as a traffic control officer in 2000.
When he was 12 years old he
emigrated from a small town in Colombia to the East End. He attended the
Montauk Public School and then graduated from East Hampton High School. He
recalled going on a ride-along with a town police officer when he was in middle
school, when speaking to Patch last year.
The experience only further
cemented his dream of becoming a police officer, something he said he wanted to
do as long as he can remember. "It's a good job and it's a great way to
help the community," he said. "The community is changing a lot,"
he said, adding that he hopes he can act as "a role model to
somebody," even if it's just one small child.
