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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Cops were given free Yankees tickets for making summonses disappear

















Several cops involved in a massive ticket-fixing scandal got pricey tickets to Yankees games and other sporting events for making summonses disappear, sources said.

The premium seats were "thank-you" gifts from cops whose relatives got out of speeding and red-light violations in the 40th, 48th and 52nd precincts, sources said.

Officers in Manhattan and Queens also scored tickets to Mets and Giants games for getting rid of moving violations, sources said.

At least six cops received tickets from colleagues for field-level seats at Yankee Stadium, some of which cost more than $400, sources said.

"One cop would ask the other to take care of a ticket and set him up with seats to show his appreciation," said one source with knowledge of the fixed cases. "It was something done as a 'thank you'... a favor for a favor."

The gifted Yankees tickets were for some of the biggest games of the 2010 season, including matchups between the Bronx Bombers and the Boston Red Sox.

"They were getting choice seats for getting rid of the tickets, or in some cases not showing up in court," the source said. "These are seats that would have cost a bundle. Several hundred bucks and higher in some cases."

Information about the game tickets emerged as part of the traffic ticket-fixing probe by the Bronx district attorney's office, which could result in the indictments of up to 40 cops, sources said.

More than 100 cops could face departmental charges, the sources said.

Meanwhile, a Bronx highway officer caught caught trying to fix a ticket has thrown a drunken-driving case into chaos, the Daily News has learned.

Harrington Marshall, 44, was heard on a wiretap asking another cop to make a ticket disappear, sources said. Marshall asked the cop if he would owe something to the fixing officer, but was told not to worry about it, sources said.

The information came to light as part of the district attorney's case against former prosecutor Stephen Lopresti, whom Marshall gave a Breathalyzer test after his December 2006 DWI arrest.

A second officer involved in Lopresti's arrest, Julissa Goris, was also caught on the wire trying to fix two tickets. Defense lawyers are expected to attack the credibility of both cops during Lopresti's trial, which starts today.

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