Records: Caracappa, Eppolito, Gardell
| Submitted | Feb. 9, 2021 |
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Communications
From: T. McElwee
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
Records concerning the late Stephen Caracappa, Louis Eppolito, and Stephen Gardell. These are former officers of the New York City Police Department who were later convicted of federal crimes committed while members of the service.
I specifically request the records in these Subject Matter List subheadings:
• Office of Criminal Justice Records, Criminal History Record File
• Office of Public Safety, Police/Peace Officer Registry Records
To assist in the location of records, please note the following identifying information:
• Stephen Caracappa: year of birth 1941; first 5 digits of SSN 115-32,
• Louis Eppolito: year of birth 1948; first 5 digits of SSN 129-36,
• Stephen Gardell: year of birth 1947; first 5 digits of SSN SSN 069-40.
All named individuals are deceased; proofs of death are attached (in PDF format). Privacy interests are diminished post-mortem; there is overwhelming public interest in the opening of any remaining files to promote the understanding of DCJS and its role in combating corruption of law enforcement.
Per Chapter 96 of the NYS Laws of 2020, these records are covered by the Freedom of Information Law and may not be withheld citing CRL 50-A.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
T. McElwee
From: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
Dear Mr. McElwee:
This will acknowledge receipt of your request for records under the Freedom of Information Law received by the Division of Criminal Justice Services on February 9, 2021. The request was for “Records concerning the late Stephen Caracappa, Louis Eppolito, and Stephen Gardell. These are former officers of the New York City Police Department who were later convicted of federal crimes committed while members of the service”.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate program area(s) to identify documents that are responsive to your request and which may be made available pursuant to all applicable provisions of the Freedom of Information Law.
A determination as to whether your request is granted or denied will be reached in approximately 20 business days or we will notify you in writing if the responsible program area(s) should require additional time to locate, assemble and review documents that may be responsive to your request.
Please note that, pursuant to Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, a charge may be applied to your request, including the actual cost of the medium used to respond to your Freedom of Information Law request and/or other related costs. When responsive records have been identified, you will be informed of any cost and how payment should be made.
As part of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some or all agency employees may be working off-site. As such, there may be delays in response to FOIL requests. If a record responsive to a request is only available in hard-copy format, that record’s availability will be limited until further notice. Thank you for your patience during this extraordinary time.
Very truly yours,
Brian Garvey, Esq.
Records Access Officer
From: T. McElwee
Thank you very much, Mr. Garvey.
-TM
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 9, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
Dear Mr. McElwee:
This is in response to your Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL") request to the Division of Criminal Justice Services ("Division") for the Criminal History Record File and Police/Peace Officer Registry records of Stephen Caracappa, Louis Eppolito, and Stephen Gardell.
You are requesting the criminal history record information ("CHRI") of these individuals. Please be advised that CHRI maintained by the Division is exempt from FOIL disclosure pursuant to Public Officers Law ("POL") §87(2)(a), which provides for the denial of records specifically exempted from disclosure by statute and on unwarranted invasion of personal privacy grounds pursuant to the provisions of 9 NYCRR §6150.4 (see, POL §87[2][b]).
Only entities qualified pursuant to Article 35 of New York's Executive Law are eligible to have access to such records (see, Executive Law §837[6], [8]). Additionally, an individual or the attorney for such individual, upon proper identification, may review his or her own CHRI for the purpose of challenge or correction. Finally, access to a person's CHRI is also permitted when a court determines that such information is relevant to an issue in litigation and issues an order or a subpoena for such a record. Since your request does not meet the foregoing criteria, your request for CHRI is denied.
You may wish to contact the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) which conducts name-based criminal history record searches for a fee. Access to OCA records is not restricted to entities authorized by law. You can obtain information concerning a criminal history record search from OCA at http://nycourts.gov/apps/chrs/ or by calling OCA's Criminal History Record Search Unit at (212) 428-2943.
In response to the aspect of your request for Police/Peace Officer Registry Records, please find attached the Registry records of Stephen Caracappa, Louis Eppolito, and Stephen Gardell. Please note, Personal ID, SSN, and DOB have been redacted from this record on privacy grounds pursuant to Public Officers Law ("POL") §87(2)(b).
Pursuant to POL §89(4)(a), you may appeal this determination within 30 days to the Counsel, Division of Criminal Justice Services, 80 South Swan St., Albany, NY 12210 or by email at foil@dcjs.ny.gov.
Very truly yours,
Brian Garvey, Esq.
Records Access Officer
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~WRD0004
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