12 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JANUARY 2022
WEB BRIEFS LI AT A GLANCE
NYPD CHIEF APPOINTED SUFFOLK
POLICE COMMISSIONER
Rodney Harrison, who retired as the NYPD’s chief of
department in December, has been appointed as the next
Suff olk County Police Department commissioner.
The Suffolk County Legislature confirmed his appointment,
tasking him with implementing the department’s police reforms.
He replaces Risco Mention-Lewis and Stuart Cameron,
the acting commissioners who had been running the department
since Geraldine Hart, a former FBI agent, stepped down.
Suff olk County Executive Steve Bellone named the candidate
following a search for Hart’s replacement.
Harrison, who spent 30 years in the NYPD, is the only
member ever to rise from cadet to the top of the department’s
chain of command. He's Suff olk's fi rst Black police
commissioner.
-Timothy Bolger
VICTIM OF SERIAL KILLER
ROBERT SHULMAN ID’D AS
MERESA HAMMONDS
Investigators have identifi ed a victim of serial killer Robert
Shulman, a postal worker from Hicksville who was
convicted of killing fi ve women in the 1990s — nearly
30 years aft er her death.
Authorities using genetic genealogy revealed that
Meresa Hammonds, a 31-year-old mother of two living
in New Jersey at the time, was a previously unidentifi ed
victim of Shulman’s dubbed Yonkers Jane Doe, according
to The Journal News, which fi rst reported the story.
Yonkers Police Detective John Geiss, who investigates
the department’s cold cases, reportedly informed the
family that the FBI had identifi ed Hammonds aft er
her cousin used a genealogy website to research their
family tree.
Hammonds was one of fi ve women Shulman was
convicted of killing between 1991 and 1996. Found
in a trash bin behind a restaurant by a construction
worker searching for a lost lottery ticket on June 27,
1992, she was the second Shulman victim to be found
and one of two of his victims who were unidentifi
ed. Now, the only victim of his yet to be identifi ed
is known as Medford Jane Doe, who was found on
Dec. 7, 1994.
Shulman, who smoked crack with his victims before
beating them to death, was arrested near his apartment
aft er detectives interviewed sex workers who
had been there. He was sentenced to death for the
lone murder committed aft er the death penalty was
re-enacted in New York State but was later resentenced
to life in prison when the death penalty was
nullifi ed by the state Court of Appeals in 2004. He died
in prison in 2006 at age 52.
NEARLY $3M
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and environmental
leaders celebrated nearly $3 million in matching federal
grants to fund Long Island Sound preservation projects.
Several local organizations dedicated to protecting Long
Island’s waterways have received a chunk of the $2.94
million for initiatives that aim to improve water quality
in the Long Island Sound near the areas of Oyster Bay,
Hempstead Harbor, Northport Harbor, Udalls Cove and
Little Neck Bay in Queens, Roslyn, and Centerport Harbor.
“The Long Island Sound is becoming better and more
abundant, but it is not at all done and it will never be done.
It’s a constant eff ort,” Suozzi said. “The Long Island Sound
is our national park, and we have to treat it that way.”
The funds are part of a larger slate of grants by the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation called the Long
Island Sound Futures Fund.
-Briana Bonfi glio
EX-CHIEF DEPUTY NASSAU EXEC
SENTENCED TO 18 MONTHS
The former Chief Deputy Nassau County executive
was sentenced Dec. 7 to 18 months in federal prison for
obstructing justice.
Richard “Rob” Walker had pleaded guilty at Central Islip
federal court in 2019 to obstruction of justice. U.S. District
Judge Joan M. Azrack also ordered Walker to pay $5,000
in forfeiture and a $5,500 fi ne, and perform 2,000 hours
of community service as part of his sentence.
Aft er the former New York State Assemblyman from
Hicksville took $5,000 from a county contractor in 2014 and
told the contractor to lie to the grand jury about it, Walker
met the contractor in a park and gave the $5,000 back,
according to investigators. He later denied ever having
received
the money, authorities
said.
Walker served as the top deputy to
ex-Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano,
a Republican who was convicted in 2019 of
a kickback scheme in which his indicted restaurateur
friend allegedly gave Mangano’s wife a no-show job in
exchange for county contracts. Mangano’s wife, Linda,
was convicted of lying to investigators. They have not
yet been sentenced.
-TB
NCPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES
TAPPED FOR NYPD COMMISH
Nassau County Police Department Chief of Detectives
Keechant Sewell is set to make history as the fi rst-ever
female police commissioner of the New York Police
Department.
The appointment of Sewell, a Queens native ends a
lengthy vetting process in which Adams considered
candidates from across the country seeking to lead the
nation’s largest police force. Commissioner Dermot
Shea retired in December.
Sewell made history in September 2020 when she was named
the first Black female chief of detectives for the Nassau County
Police Department, where she spent 22 years on the job, as
Newsday reported. Adams himself is a former top-ranking
NYPD officer who campaigned with a strategy of being
tough on crime while continuing to support police officers
and build a stronger relationship with the community.
-Robert Pozarycki, via amNewYork Metro
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