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Perry Pettus, 63, was in Nassau County Court on Thursday, June 13, to plead guilty to the corruption charges, which accused him of using his position and power for personal gain.
In all, Pettus pleaded guilty to:
- Two counts of Bribe receiving;
- Five counts of grand larceny;
- Attempted grand larceny;
- Two counts of tampering with public records;
- Falsifying business records;
- Three counts of conspiracy;
- Official misconduct;
- Tampering with a witness.
According to Singas, between February and May last year, Pettus used his position and authority as a deputy mayor and trustee of the village to solicit more than $50,000 in bribes from Hempstead restauranteurs by threatening to have summonses issued that would jeopardize the restaurants’ business, wine and liquor licenses, which would force the restaurants out of business.
From June 2017 through September last year, Pettus also admitted to using his position to extort bribes from other restaurants to the tune of $100,000. Singas said that it is alleged that Pettus and an associate, William Mendez, a local restaurant and bar owner in Hempstead, targeted Hispanic-owned businesses as part of their extortion scheme.
In November 2016, Pettus attempted to obtain a mortgage from TD Bank by lying about his annual income and submitting forged paystubs on the application. He also used his power to fix tickets for one of Mendez’s employees.
According to Singas, Pettus called former Hempstead Police Lt. Paul Johnson on the same day, described the tickets and told Johnson he would stop by the police department and show him the ticket numbers on his phone. Johnson later allegedly told Pettus that the tickets would be fixed and Pettus then called Mendez to say, “They’re done. You don’t have to worry.”
The indictment also alleged that from April 13 through April 16 last year, Pettus again asked a police sergeant in Hempstead to fix tickets as a favor, which included the disposal of two parking tickets issued to Mendez and a traffic summons and complaint that was issued to one of his employees.
Singas said that the indictment also charged Pettus with receiving a cash bribe wrapped in a newspaper, allegedly from a Hempstead police lieutenant, in exchange for voting to promote him to the deputy chief of the department in June last year.
The cases against Mendez and the police officials are still pending, the DA noted.
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