Cop admits making secret recordings
CLERMONT, N.Y. » The officer who oversees the Red Hook Police Department admits he made secret recordings that led to him being charged with felony eavesdropping, a charge that was reduced soon afterward.
Sgt. Patrick Hildenbrand said Friday that he made recordings in 2017 in the Columbia County home he shared with the mother of his daughters because the girls were in a “verbally abusive situation.” Hildenbrand and the woman, who identified herself to the Freeman as Laura Minnetto, no longer live together.
Hildenbrand was charged with the felony at 4 p.m. Thursday by state police at Claverack, but he said Friday that the charge was “reduced [in Clermont Town Court] to an unclassified conditional discharge.”
“Basically, it’s gone,” Hildenbrand said.
A letter to Minnetto’s attorney, Michael S. Pascazi, from Columbia County Assistant District Attorney Trevor O. Flike, however, states Hildenbrand was arraigned Thursday and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor possession of eavesdropping devices “in full satisfaction of all charges.”
“The crime he pleaded guilty to requires intent to use a device in violation of the felony eavesdropping statute,” Pascazi said by phone Friday. “From my perspective, this is crystal clear.”
The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail or three years of probation, and a fine of up $1,000.
Village of Red Hook Mayor Ed Blundell said he and the Village Board were “fully aware” of the charges and that they were “adjudicated” late Thursday and reduced to a misdemeanor.
A state police public information officer, Trooper A.J. Hicks, declined to comment on the case and referred all questions to Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka.
Czajka did not return a reporter’s calls or emails Friday.
Asked whether charges of this nature constitute a violation of village policy that would affect Hildenbrand’s employment, Blundell said: “This is bigger than village policy, it involves [state] Public Officer Law. The outcome of this particular case does not violate any oath of office. … We are fully aware of the Public Officer Law and any implications.”
Reached Friday at his Poughkeepsie office, the village’s attorney, David Wise, refused to comment on what he called a “personnel matter.”
Hildenbrand said of his employment status: “I’m a police sergeant. I’m still a police sergeant. Nothing has changed.”
“Builds a lot of confidence in law enforcement in the village of Red Hook, doesn’t it?” Pascazi said. “Charged with a felony and pleads guilty to a misdemeanor.”
Hildenbrand said he made the recordings to ensure the safety of his daughters.
“My interpretation of the law was that I’m allowed to record for the safety of my children,” he said. “… I have a responsibility to them. I’m their dad.”
He said his two daughters were in “a verbally abu-
sive situation, and I had to record for their safety.”
Hildenbrand declined to discuss where in his home the recordings were made, what equipment was used or what the recordings captured.
In an email to the Freeman Friday evening, Minnetto
called Hildebrand’s comments “nothing more than a fairy tale.”
“He was not protecting anyone while he was committing his crime,” she wrote. “... He had the constitutional right to raise whatever defenses he thought he had at a trial before a jury of his peers. Mr. Hildenbrand did not choose to exercise that right, but rather pled guilty to a crime.”