3 Former NYPD Officers From LI Confess To Bribery Scheme

LONG ISLAND, NY — Three former New York City police officers from Long Island pleaded guilty last week to a list of charges against them related to bribery schemes the concocted.

Heather Busch, 34, of Massapequa; Robert Hassett, 36, of Farmingville; and Robert Smith, 44, of Plainview, were arrested arrested in May. On Oct. 7, Hassett pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to sell the personal information of car crash victims in exchange for bribes, as well as a scheme to steer car crashes to a specific tow truck company for bribes.

On Aug. 5, Busch pleaded guilty to taking bribes for her role in the tow truck scheme.

On Oct. 6, Smith pleaded guilty to taking bribes for his role in the tow truck scheme. He also pleaded guilty to working with Hasset in the victim database scheme, as well as trying to distribute a kilogram of heroin.

Smith faces up to 25 years in prison. Hassett and Busch each face up to five years. As part of their pleas, Smith has agreed to forfeit $20,000, Hassett will forfeit $10,000 and Busch will pay $6,000.

At the time the schemes took place, all three were officers in the 105th Precinct in Queens. Busch and Hassett were still employed by the NYPD when they were arrested, and have since resigned. Smith had retired in March 2020.

“The defendants’ guilty pleas to accepting bribes are also acknowledgements that
they abused the public trust and dishonored the NYPD by their actions,” said Acting United
States Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis. “This office will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to identify and prosecute corrupt police officers.”

NYPD officers are required to use a computer system called the Directed Accident Response Program (DARP) when responding to auto accidents. The program randomly selects a licensed tow truck business to respond to the scene to ensure that no one business gets favorable treatment from the police department.

But starting in September 2016, Smith and Hassett bypassed the DARP system and directed business to an unnamed towing company in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash bribes. Smith and Hassett continued with the scheme until at least June 2017, when they temporarily stopped.

In November 2019, Smith once again began steering damaged vehicles to the towing business in exchange for bribes. In January 2020, Smith discussed recruiting Busch into the arrangement with the owner of the towing business. Smith and Busch met with the owner in March, and Busch agreed to participate. Since then, she would also send damaged vehicles to the towing company for bribes.

In addition to giving the owner of the towing company preferential treatment to access car crashes, officials say that, starting in January 2020, Smith and Hassett began to get the names and information of recent car accident victims from the NYPD database and would give it to the company owner in exchange for cash. The officers knew that the owner would then sell that information to physical therapy businesses and personal injury attorneys.

Hassett would often access the information and give it to Smith to pass to the tow company owner. The owner would then give cash to Smith, who would share it with Hassett. From January to March 2020, the officers sold the identifying information of more than 100 people in exchange for more than $7,000.

Starting in January 2020, Smith started to talk to the tow company owner about transporting drugs for them in exchange for cash once Smith retired from the NYPD. In June 2020, Smith met with two people to discuss participating in drug trafficking, and told them that he could carry a gun and his identification as a retired NYPD officer while doing so.

In July 2020, Smith met with a person in Brooklyn and accepted a bag containing what he believed to be a kilogram of heroin and transported it to Queens. He was given about $1,200 cash for it, officials say.

In other court documents, officials allege that Smith participated in other, as-yet uncharged crimes, including shaking down individuals and businesses for bribes. He also said in text messages obtained during the investigation that he would deliberately point his gun at Black people (whom he used a racial slur to describe) to see their reaction and then drive away. He also wrote that he wanted to see "mass suicide and death" among his fellow NYPD officers, according to court documents.