Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced May 27 that the man at the center of the DA's sweeping 2007 probe into corruption within the Town of North Hempstead's Building Department has pleaded guilty to the top charges against him, including five felonies and two misdemeanor counts that are expected to land him in jail for a year.

David Wasserman, 49, of Roslyn, has pleaded guilty to grand larceny - 3rd degree; four counts of offering a false instrument for filing - 1st degree; falsifying business records - 2nd degree; and receiving unlawful gratuities. In exchange for the top-count guilty pleas, Nassau County Court Judge William Donnino has committed to sentencing Wasserman to one year in jail. The plea also requires that Wasserman surrender his architectural license and pay $12,924 in back taxes, interest and penalties to New York State.

Rice said that while employed as the top building department official, Wasserman performed architectural services in the town and doctored the plans and permit applications to conceal conflicting outside employment. To further avoid the ethical conflict of the illegal outside income, Rice said that Wasserman evaded nearly $13,000 in taxes from 2003 to 2005. In addition, Wasserman unlawfully accepted $3,600 worth of gym memberships at the New Hyde Park LA Fitness gym in 2004, the DA stated.

"As the head of this department, this defendant's actions created a culture of corruption that defied good government and eventually brought the department to a standstill," said Rice. "Because he was committing his own crimes while overseeing the department, he couldn't enforce or monitor the actions of those beneath him. It was the 'fox watching the hen house.' Under his leadership, numerous department employees were engaging in their own lucrative crimes because they knew the corruption started at the top. He set the tone, and ultimately he's responsible for the slowdown in the department, and for the improvements the town has had to make since this investigation began."

Judge Donnino is expected to formally sentence Wasserman July 1.

Tuesday's plea is the third guilty plea in connection with a 16-month probe by the district attorney's office into allegations of bribe receiving, grand larceny, official misconduct and the filing of doctored architectural plans at the Town of North Hempstead Building Department.

In October 2007, Andrew Acierno, 43, of Westbury, a former plans examiner within the building department, pleaded guilty to falsifying town financial disclosure forms, filing doctored architectural permit applications, and evading personal income tax. Acierno was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $27,828 in restitution to New York State, as well as a $5,000 fine.

In February, former North Hempstead plumbing inspector Joseph Lomonaco, 56, of New Hyde Park, pleaded guilty to filing doctored renovation permits on his home. As a condition of the plea, Lomonaco was forced to pay $6,324 in permitting fees and penalties to the Town of North Hempstead, and an additional $1,064.72 in restitution to Nassau County. Rice said that the restitution order represents the taxes the defendant would have been forced to pay had he filed the permit applications in accordance with the law and had his home been accurately assessed following the illegal renovations. Lomonaco was also placed on probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Rice said that active cases remain against the former deputy commissioner of the department, Joseph Madden, and suspended building inspector, Thomas McDonough. Deputy Chief of the DA's Public Corruption Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Karen Bennett, along with Assistant District Attorney Michael Annibale, are handling the case for the district attorney's office. Wasserman is being represented by Joel Weiss, Esq.

According to Colin Nash, spokesperson for North Hempstead Town, "The disposition is another step forward in the healing and restructuring of the building department. The town thanks the DA's office for its efforts."

Wasserman's guilty plea, however, "sheds no new light on the depth and breadth of the North Hempstead Building Department corruption scandal," said North Hempstead Republican Committee Chairman Frank Moroney.

"Wasserman and four other members of the town's building department were arrested in October for alleged improprieties that include taking bribes, selling tickets to Democratic Party fundraisers, issuing illegal certificates for houses and falsifying financial disclosure forms. At the time the indictments were issued, the district attorney characterized this as the worst abuse of government in the county's history when she commented on the 'culture of corruption' that existed in the Wasserman/Kaiman Building Department," said Moroney. "This plea is another black eye for the Kaiman administration, which has been plagued by corruption, scandals and ethical lapses, that have cost the taxpayers of North Hempstead dearly. Unless DA Rice has received a commitment from Wasserman for additional information and testimony into the ongoing Building Department scandal, there is no explanation for allowing a plea to only eight of the 29 counts contained in the indictment."