By Howard Koplowitz
| THE SPITZER SEX SCANDAL
Full coverage |
Norman Barabash, a Bellerose resident, was targeted by Spitzer for allegedly using his tourism business, Big Apple Oriental Tours, to set up clients with underage prostitutes in Thailand and the Philippines.
Charges against Barabash, who faced up to seven years in prison if convicted, were dropped in 2004 when a Dutchess County judge ruled that Spitzer's office introduced inadmissible evidence against the Bellerose man.
He was indicted again in 2005 and those charges were dropped in 2006.
But in an interview Wednesday with the TimesLedger, Barabash said an appellate court had reinstated a misdemeanor count against him .
Spitzer accused Barabash and business partner Douglas Allen of hiring tour guides in Thailand and the Philipines who would take customers to bars. Spitzer alleged that from between Dec. 9, 2002, and June 11, 2003, the guides negotiated fees with managers at the bars to hire prostitutes.
But Judge Gerald Hayes dismissed the case in 2004 after ruling that a former Big Apple client used in the prosecution's case was a customer before the allegations took place and that his testimony constituted hearsay, making it inadmissible.
