Little Prison Time for Rockland Gun License 'Fixer'

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A Rockland resident who bribed New York City police officers to give gun permits to his clients — a scheme that led to a massive corruption probe at the NYPD — has been sentenced to 32 months in prison.

In addition to the prison term, Alex Lichtenstein, 45, will undergo three years of supervised release and was ordered to forfeit $230,000.

The sentence was lighter than expected, Brooklyner.com reported. Lichtenstein had taken a plea deal that included up to six years in prison, but Manhattan Federal Judge Sidney Stein said he took the Pomona resident's community service into account.

Lichtenstein was the catalyst for a massive probe into the ties between Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community and high-ranking officers with the NYPD, according to three bombshell indictments in June by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The indictments accused the officials of providing favors to Orthodox community friends and associates, including police escorts, assistance with private disputes and investigations, police security at religious sites, the ability to get out of tickets and special access to parades and other cultural events. In return they are alleged to have received personal and financial benefits including jewelry and luxury items.

Lichtenstein, whom the FBI said paid bribes to get gun licenses from the NYPD and sold them to customers for as much as $18,000 apiece, is a member of the Borough Park's private, Orthodox-only security team, Shomrim. It is a volunteer, "ostensibly unarmed" patrol society whose stated mission includes combating criminal activity and locating missing people in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors said Lichtenstein had been so connected in the NYPD that he spent almost every day there. The scheme came to light when Lichtenstein approached an officer in the License Division after his previous contacts had dried up because of rumors about exorbitant client fees.

NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, Deputy Inspector James Grant and Sgt. David Villanueva, who was with the gun licensing division, were charged in the corruption case.

In return for a fee ranging from $10,000 to $16,000 per application, Lichtenstein assisted his clients in "navigating" New York City's gun licensing process.

What he did was bribe two officers in the NYPD’s Licensing Division to ensure success for nearly all of his clients’ applications.

In particular, he paid co-defendant Sergeant David Villanueva of the Licensing Division between hundreds of dollars and $1,000 per application, and Villanueva in turn provided some of the bribe money to co-defendant Richard Ochetal, another NYPD officer in the Licensing Division.

In exchange for this cash, as well as other perks such as liquor and limousine rides, Villanueva and Ochetal approved the gun license applications sought by Lichtenstein's clients without conducting the requisite diligence on background checks. As a result, Villanueva and Ochetal approved gun licenses for men with criminal histories, including at least one with a previous felony conviction, histories of domestic violence, and other factors that would otherwise have resulted in rejections by the Police Department.

Villanueva and Ochetal also approved licenses for individuals to carry concealed guns for business-related reasons, when in fact such individuals had no legitimate basis on which to claim the need for such licenses.

In total, Lichtenstein made at least between $150,000 and $250,000 from his clients, a portion of which he gave Villanueva and Ochetal as bribes.

“By engaging in an egregious scheme to trade cash for gun licenses, Alex Lichtenstein and his co-defendants in the New York City Police Department corrupted the sensitive process of evaluating gun license applications in New York City," said Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announcing the sentence. "Individuals who so brazenly abuse the public’s trust in law enforcement – whether they are the officers receiving bribes or the citizens paying them – will be held to account for their crimes.”

SEE ALSO:

• Rockland Man Charged with Bribery Over NYPD-Issued Gun Permits
• Top NYPD Officials Charged in Corruption Probe Involving Rockland Man
• Rockland Gun License 'Fixer' Pleads Guilty

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