David Abram, the former Village of Liberty police officer, was either asked to resign or was fired only because he reportedly texted his wife - who works for the Village - to avoid the public works department in advance of the arrests of two of the three village employees in that department and a staged arrest of another on December 12.
That's according to a source with knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified. Abram's wife, Rebecca, works in the sewer department of the village, according to the website.
Neither David Abram, who joined the force in 2013, or Rebecca Abram could be reached for comment.
The source said that the revelation that Abram had texted his wife occurred because all Village police officers' cellphones were confiscated and combed through sometime in December.
It's unclear at this time if it was Liberty Police Chief Scott Kinne who gathered the officers' cellphones. But Kinne was one of three spokespeople at a December 13 news conference - along with Mayor Ron Stabak and Megan Galligan, who is now Acting District Attorney - announcing "Operation Double-Billing" in which public works' employees Peter Parks and Michael Houghtaling were officially arrested.
The SullivanTimes has previously reported that a third former public works employee, Daniel Curry, is cooperating with the District Attorney's Office and Liberty Police detectives to advance their cases against Parks, who was supervisor, and possibly Houghtaling.
As part of that cooperation, The SullivanTimes has learned that Curry was told by law enforcement to pretend that he was also placed under arrest so it would not tip off the other two defendants and tarnish the ongoing investigation.
The "Operation Double-Billiing" investigation, which is ongoing, alleges that Parks had Houghtaling and Curry, his subordinates, working in his contracting business while on village taxpayer time.
Two sources have told The SullivanTimes that Parks, Houghtaling and Curry were forced to resign by Stabak on December 12 inside the Village of Liberty police station.
The three are expected to appear in Town of Liberty Court in coming weeks. A week ago, Curry was arraigned in Liberty on short notice amid some confusion about whether he was to be arraigned in Fallsburg.
Houghtaling and Parks were previously arraigned in Liberty on the same day in late December and have since had their bail monies returned, as per the new law in New York State.
Stabak, Kinne and Galligan have previously not returned phone calls and emails for comment about the case beyond what was said at the December 13 news conference.
A copy of this story was also emailed to Stabak, Kinne and Galligan earlier today and asking all if they would like to comment on what's being reported.
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