GOP Candidate Punished by NYPD for Losing Gun, Going Rogue as a DJ
Anthony D’Esposito is running to replace retiring Rep. Kathleen Rice in New York’s 4th Congressional District. D’Esposito is a former New York City cop marketing himself as a law-and-order Republican, but as the New York Daily News reported on Monday, he had some issues following the rules when he was on the force.
Records obtained by the Daily News show that in 2015 D’Esposito’s gun was stolen after he left it unattended in a car. He was found guilty of failing to secure a firearm and had to fork over 20 vacation days as punishment.
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It wasn’t the only time D’Esposito was docked vacation days.
The department investigated him in 2007, as well, ultimately that he “wrongfully engaged in conduct prejudicial to the good order, efficiency or discipline of the department” and stripping him of 15 vacation days. The prejudicial conduct in question included working as a DJ and serving alcohol without permission, according to NYPD records.
D’Esposito’s campaign incredibly tried to spin the fact that his unattended gun was stolen seven years ago as an example of why Congress needs people like him to crack down on crime. “Just as many residents have fallen prey to dangerous criminals, Detective D’Esposito had his police firearm stolen from a gun safe that was bolted to the chassis of the vehicle he used as the volunteer Chief of the Island Park Fire Department,” Mike Deery, a campaign spokesperson, told the Daily News.
Regardless of whether D’Esposito’s gun was stolen in a safe bolted to the vehicle, he was clearly not taking proper precautions to safeguard it, and as the Daily News notes, he admitted he was guilty.
Laura Gillen, D’Esposito’s Democratic opponent to represent the likely Democratic district, had a different take. “Who leaves a loaded gun in an unlocked car, unattended, for a criminal to steal?” she told the Daily News. “D’Esposito is proclaiming himself to be an ‘expert’ on crime, yet he can’t even keep his own gun out of the hands of a criminal.”
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