By Rich Bockmann
Police arrested an off-duty Oakland Gardens firefighter in Bayside last week for alledgedly providing a group of minors with alcohol and then exposing himself to two of them, the Queens district attorney said.
Michael Taggart, 48, was arrested July 1 at 4:22 a.m. and arraigned the following day on charges of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and unlawfully dealing with a child in the first degree and one count of public lewdness, the Queens DA said.
Taggart is a member of FDNY Engine Co. 326, at 64-04 Springfield Blvd. in Oakland Gardens. According to the FDNY, he received the maximum suspension of 30 days without pay after this arrest.
Because Taggart is a city employee, the district attorney’s office would not release his address.
According to the report filed by the 111th Precinct, a young man told one of its officers that Taggart allegedly provided him and several other youths under the age of 21 with beer in the early morning hours Friday at the corner of 64th Avenue and 218th Street, near PS 46.
Taggart then alledgedly offered the young man and another minor — both of whom are under the age of 17 — a sum of money to take a walk with him, according to the report. He then walked several blocks up the street to 220-28 64th Ave., where he stepped in-between two buildings, dropped his pants to his ankles and began to masturbate, the criminal complaint said.
When Taggart allegedly asked the youth to perform oral sex on him, the boy took a photo of him and said he would call the police, according to the complaint.
Taggart then allegedly offered him money not to call the police, the court paper said.
Taggart’s next court appearance is Aug. 8.
Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
