By Naeisha Rose
Thomas Rice, a New York Police Department detective with the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park, was demoted to a police officer, suspended and forced to retire after it was discovered that he filed false police reports for three months in 2013, the Queens district attorney said
Rice was arraigned June 19 and pleaded guilty to official misconduct before Judge Scott Dunn at Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens, according to DA Richard Brown’s office.
An inquiry led by the Internal Affairs Bureau discovered that Rice falsified reports from January to April 2013 about ongoing investigations on at least 11 different occasions, according to Brown’s office.
The reports, known as DD-5s, had false and misleading statements, according to the criminal complaint.
The cases involved vehicle break-ins where property was taken and Rice closed the investigations without using his due diligence, according to authorities.
The reports included non-existent addresses as places he conducted interviews with fictitious witnesses that he made up, according to the complaint. Some of the names used in the documents were recycled on many forms.
On at least six separate occasions he listed Harry Sadhadeo, both as a male witness and a female witness, according to the complaint.
Rice was demoted from a detective to a police officer in May and later suspended before he was forced into retirement, according to authorities.
Deputy Commissioner Joseph Resnick of the Internal Affairs Bureau supervised the investigation, which was led by Sgt. Andrew Fitts.
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
