LI Investigator Tried To Extort Ex-Client, Martin Tankleff: DA

GLEN COVE, NY — A Long Island private investigator who worked on Martin Tankleff’s defense team has been indicted after attempting to extort him over the span of at least three years with threatening emails and phone calls, Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas’ office said on Monday.

Jay Salpeter, 69, of Glen Cove, allegedly sent or left Tankleff “dozens of emails and voicemails” threatening him, and “attempting to obtain money for services” that he believed he was owed between Jan. 12, 2018, and March 27, 2021, Singas said.

Salpeter emailed threatening to cause physical injuries to Tankleff, if he failed to give Salpeter money “and left voicemails threatening to harm his reputation or expose secrets if he failed to pay,” Singas’ office said.

Salpeter, a former NYPD detective, was a private investigator on Tankleff’s defense team, helping secure his exoneration 17 years after he was convicted in 1990 in Suffolk County of murdering his parents. Tankleff had served 17 years of a 50-years-to-life in prison sentence when the charges were formally dropped in 2008.

Tankleff is now an attorney who takes on justice advocacy cases, such as the recent case involving blogger Kevin McKenna whose charges stemming from an arrest at a school board meeting were dropped earlier this year.

In a statement to Patch, Tankleff said: "Jay Salpeter was instrumental in efforts that led to my freedom after close to 18 years of imprisonment for crimes I did not commit. I am profoundly grateful."

Tankleff continued, adding, "However, what transpired over the past several years was not acceptable and had to stop. This is a sad day for everyone."

Salpeter was arraigned before Judge Felice Muraca and charged with attempted grand larceny in the second degree by extortion, a felony, as well as misdemeanor charges of attempted grand larceny and aggravated harassment, Singas’ office said.

Salpeter’s attorney, Thomas Liotti of Garden City, was not immediately available for comment.

If convicted on the top charge, Salpeter faces the maximum sentence of two and one-third years to seven years in prison. He is due back in court on June 7.