Ex-Woodmere Fire Official Convicted For Faking Court Docs: Nassau DA

MINEOLA, NY — A former Woodmere Fire District commissioner was convicted for sending a knowingly falsified court transcript to a representative of his synagogue in an attempt to regain access after a misdemeanor sex abuse case against him was dismissed on procedure grounds, prosecutors said.

Judah Karkowsky, 43, is due back in court on June 20 for sentencing.

"In more than three decades of prosecuting cases, I have never seen a defendant go to the lengths this defendant did to stand by his blatant fraud. Through his actions, Judah Karkowsky launched a brazen attack on the integrity of the criminal justice system," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Thursday. "Karkowsky’s earlier sex abuse case had been dismissed on procedural grounds, but he wanted so badly to have the charges dismissed on their merits, that he doctored the court’s official transcript."

Karkowsky, who was also a volunteer EMT in the Woodmere Fire Department, was arrested in Sept. 2021 for two misdemeanor offenses, including a sex abuse charge, Donnelly said.

He was suspended from the fire department, but the misdemeanor case was dismissed in May 2022, the D.A.'s office said.

Karkowsky sent falsified court transcripts to his synagogue in an effort to further clear his name, Donnelly said.

In August 2022, he sued thhe Woodmere Fire District and the fire department for $15 million, claiming members of the department caused to be falsely arrested, the D.A.'s office said.

That same month, he also sued the Nassau County Police Department for $15 million, claiming members of the police department and Nassau County District Attorney’s Office willfully ignored exculpatory evidence, prosecutors said.

Karkowsky made a false statement about the comments made by the judge on May 6, 2022. He was arrested on these charges on November 9, 2022, Donnelly said.