Ex-Suffolk County DA gets 5 years in prison for police-assault cover-up
Disgraced former Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota landed five years in prison Tuesday for obstructing a federal investigation into a cover-up involving sex toys, assault and a top local police chief.
US Eastern District Judge Joan Azrack handed down the 60-month stint behind bars and $100,000 in fines for the 79-year-old Spota after a jury found the ex-district attorney guilty of charges ranging from conspiracy to witness-tampering in 2019.
The judge also sentenced the former DA’s top aide and ex-chief of his anti-corruption unit, Christopher McPartland, to five years in prison for the cover-up, as well.
“The essential facts of this crime are so outrageous,” Azrack said. “Mr. Spota’s conduct, like Mr. McPartland’s, was not a momentary moral lapse. Rather, he engaged in a years-long cover-up.”
Both men had faced up to 20 years behind bars.
“I hope not to die in prison alone. … My family will forever be marked by my disgrace,” Spota said moments before being sentenced.
Chief Assistant US Attorney Nicole Boeckmann had argued for prison for Spota, saying he had failed to “take responsibility for his actions to this day.
“You have not heard an apology,” Boeckmann said.
Spota and McPartland tried to cover for Suffolk Police Chief James Burke after the top cop attacked a cuffed prisoner.
Burke had flown off the handle in 2012 while interrogating suspect Christopher Loeb — who had stolen a bag from the chief’s SUV. There were sex toys and porn in the pouch, and Loeb taunted the chief while being grilled over the robbery, calling him a “pervert.”
One of the detectives present for the interrogation had to jump in to stop Burke from beating on Loeb, who was shackled at the time.
Spota, who served as DA for more than a decade before stepping down in 2017, worked to protect Burke by telling detectives who witnessed the assault to stay quiet as the feds probed the incident.
McPartland was also part of the pressure campaign to get cops to cover for the chief.
Burke was eventually found guilty in the incident and sentenced to 46 months in prison.
Loeb spoke before Tuesday’s sentencing, saying, “Spota should spend the rest of his life behind bars for all the lives he has ruined.”
