(Greece, N.Y.) -- Robert Trowbridge, a sergeant with the Greece Police Department, has been arrested on a charge of filing a false instrument.
Investigators said Trowbridge allegedly falsified the background check when the department was hiring now former officer Gary Pigato.
Pignato was convicted in June of coercing a woman into sex, accepting sex as a bribe, and official misconduct. He was recently sentenced to two to six years in state prison.
Trowbridge, a 23-year veteran of the department, who had been suspended with pay during the investigator, has now been suspended without pay. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
The arrest is part of continuing internal investigation into possible cover ups at the department after Pignato and another former officer were charged and then convicted on unrelated charges over the past year.
"The arrest of Trowbridge is not an end to the investigation," said special investigator Joe Loszynski. "We’re still doing additional leads; I can’t comment further regarding that aspect of the case."
Monroe County District Attorney Mike Green said, "This investigation unfortunately seems to expand, every time we turn a corner we seem to find new information."
Trowbridge: Rahn told me to do it
Trowbridge pleaded not guilty.
He said he was charged to conduct the background check. He said he did so, and then turned it over to Chief Merritt Rahn to sign-off on, and verify the accuracy.
Trowbridge said Rahn asked him to falsify the papers so Pignato would be hired. Rahn himself is suspended without pay and under investigation for his possible role in this crime and others.
The Greece Town Board voted to hire Pignato after reviewing the papers even though he had been fired from the Rochester Police Department.
Greece Town Supervisor John Auberger said, “If an accurate background check had been provided. Mr. Pignato would not have been hired."
The complaint against Trowbridge is linked to this story.
Duffy: No one talked to me
Those papers included glowing recommendations from his supervisors in the background check, including current Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, who was Rochester Police Chief at that time.
Duffy said he was never interviewed at the time for the background check.
“When I was deputy chief, he was terminated from the police department; when I was Chief, he had sued to get his job back, we fought that lawsuit and were successful, so we did not take him back--I’ll leave it at that,” Duffy said. “I certainly would not have recommended anybody for a job given those circumstances."
The original document Duffy wrote in 1996 which led to Pignato's dismissal is linked to this story. NOTE: It contains sexually explicit material.
Parrinello: Auberger pushed it
Rahn's lawyer John Parrinello tells a different story.
He said Auberger pushed for Pignato's hiring at his (Parrinello's) request.
Parrinello had represented Pignato in a previous legal battle with the city after he was fired.
Auberger's statement dated 07/14/09 is linked to this story.
