Former detective headed to prison
Onetime Troy PBA president sentenced for probation violation
Retired city police detective Aaron Collington’s five-year journey through the Rensselaer County courts — during which he was placed on interim probation for stealing from the city's police union — ended Monday when he was sentenced to one to three years in prison for violating that probation.
Collington was once considered to have a sterling reputation in the city, both in Troy’s Black community and among the ranks of the Troy Police Department, whose patrol officers, detectives and sergeants had once elected him as president of the Troy Police Benevolent
Association.
But Collington stood before Judge Jennifer Sober on Monday dressed in the orange jumpsuit of an Albany County jail inmate, with his legs and arms shackled. Collington appeared before Sober after previously being sentenced Friday for stealing money by running up more than $25,000 in hotel bills on a friend’s credit card in 2020. He had previously pleaded
guilty to the Albany County charge in March.
Collington had violated his Rensselaer County probation by not reporting his interaction with the Colonie Police Department when the town detectives were investigating the illicit use of the credit card. On Monday he was sentenced in Rensselaer County for the probation violation, which rescinded his previous plea deal that kept prison time at bay on the grand larceny charge involving Troy PBA monies. He will now serve concurrent prison sentences.
Offered an opportunity to speak during the hearing Monday, Collington declined to say anything.
“It’s sad to see where you landed, Mr. Collington,” Sober said. “You had a great reputation in the community.”
“He just wants all of this behind him,” said Art Frost, the defense attorney representing the retired detective.
Collington’s path toward prison began when he was first charged in October 2017 with stealing $6,200 from the Troy Police Benevolent Association.
The Troy PBA filed a complaint against Collington after finding discrepancies in its financial records.
Collington used the $6,200 to pay his rent, according to the police complaint.
At the time he was charged, Collington earned $79,926 working for the city. Collington repaid the union. Collington reached a plea deal with special prosecutors from the Albany County district attorney’s office that allowed him to avoid prison time as long as he adhered to his probation terms.
But then Collington stayed at The Homewood Suites on Wolf Road in Colonie for two nights — March 15 and 16, 2020. A friend was paying $262 for the two nights at the hotel, according to police and civil court records.
Collington told the friend he needed a place to stay temporarily due to a burst pipe in his home, according to records.
The hotel bill soared to $25,459 as Collington used the credit card 26 times over seven months at the hotel, according to court filings.
The mounting hotel bill led Colonie detectives to investigate. They arrested Collington in December 2020 when he reported to the Rensselaer County Probation Department. An Albany County grand jury indicted him for third-degree grand larceny.
Collington reached another plea deal with the Albany County district attorney’s office on the Colonie hotel charge. On March 4, he pleaded guilty to fourthdegree grand larceny. He was sentenced Friday to 1 ½ to 3 years in prison on the Albany County charge and ordered to pay restitution of $25,459.