Former Sachem North Football Coach Convicted Of 5 Felonies

RIVERHEAD, NY – Former Sachem North High School football coach David Falco was convicted by a Suffolk County jury Monday for filing false claim forms and stealing $5,755 from the school district, Suffolk DA Tim Sini said.

Falco was convicted of public corruption, a C felony; third degree grand larceny, a D felony; third degree corrupting the government, a D felony; first degree falsifying business records, an E felony; first degree offering a false instrument for filing, an E felony; and official misconduct, an A misdemeanor.

Between Dec. 8, 2017, and June 15, 2018, Falco, of Center Moriches, filed eight teacher claim forms with the Sachem Central School District to receive compensation for supervising Sachem North High School’s weight room. An investigation by the District Attorney’s Office revealed that Falco was claiming money for the work that his assistant coaches performed. As a result of the false teacher claim forms he filed, Falco received $5,755.68 from the school district, prosecutors said.

The investigation also revealed that Falco told the assistant coaches who were actually supervising the weight room that compensation was not available to them for their work.

“Any abuse of power by a public employee is unacceptable, but it is particularly disheartening when that person is a teacher and coach - someone who should be acting as a role model for his students,” Sini said. “Our Public Integrity Bureau did an excellent job investigating and prosecuting this individual, resulting in today’s swift conviction by a jury of his peers.”

Jury selection in the trial began on Sept. 9 and the jury deliberated for about an hour Monday before returning a verdict of guilty.

Falco is scheduled to be sentenced by Suffolk County Court Judge Timothy Mazzei on Nov. 12. He faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

Falco coached football at Sachem North for 15 years, while also serving as the school's physical education chairman, but resigned on Aug. 15, 2018 - days before the start of the season.

After his arrest, Falco's attorney, John Scott Prudenti, told Newsday that Falco had done nothing illegal and that his actions were "consistent with the manner of distributing small stipends to members of the staff which participated in supervision and instruction of the student athletes involved in a very successful program."