Former Troy cops sentenced for entering residence without warrant

Sgt. Ron Epstein and Detective John Comitale were each sentenced to a conditional discharge for one year

TROY, N.Y. >> A pair of retired Troy Police officers were sentenced Tuesday afternoon in Rensselaer County Court, nearly a month after pleading guilty to official misconduct stemming from entering a home at 112 Oakwood Avenue sans a warrant and falsifying an incident report.

Sgt. Ron Epstein and Detective John Comitale Jr. were each sentenced to a conditional discharge for one year by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch.

The special prosecutor for the case was Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka.

Epstein is accused of leading the six-man Firearms Interdiction and Narcotics Suppression unit on an illegal June 9, 2017, search of a home at 112 Oakwood Ave. The now disbanded drug unit also allegedly failed to seize the more than 1/8 ounce of cocaine discovered during the search.

“We are greatly relieved and satisfied by the judge’s sentence. It was fair, reasonable and appropriate. As the judge himself said, this was an aberrational incident from an otherwise distinguished career,” Epstein’s attorney Michael Koenig said in regards to the sentencing. “Ron served this community over 20 years with extraordinary distinction, he made the streets safer, he made the community better and that’s what he should be remembered for and now he can move on with the rest of his life in a positive way.”

“I thought the sentence was the appropriate sentence. We appreciate the judge taking a deep look into not only the probation department recommendation of a conditional discharge but re-

ally reviewing the number of character reference letters that were submitted to

him both by family, local Troy residents and by law enforcement,” Comitale’s attorney Andrew Safranko said of the sentencing. “It really speaks volumes to the person and police officer that John Comitale was,

that so many current and former police officers would come forward and make a public statement in support

of John, stating that he was the go-to police officer on these drug cases, that on the Marshals task force.”