Past Legal Troubles Revealed For Candidates In Legislative Race

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY - Reports of legal troubles for both opponents in the highly contested Suffolk County Legislature race have recently come to light just before Election Day next week.

According to Suffolk County District Court records released by the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, in 2011 Republican candidate for the 8th Legislative District, Anthony Piccirillo, was charged in connection to an illegal poker game in Bohemia.

Records indicate he was issued an appearance ticket for promoting gambling in August 2011. Then in 2014, he pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly collecting the money from the players during the game, according to the records. He was fined $250.
Newsday reports that he did not pay the fine until this month after being contacted by reporters.

He reportedly provided a receipt to Newsday showing he paid the fine in full as well as the additional fees.

Piccirillo's opponent, incumbent William Lindsay (D) told Patch he finds reports of his arrest "very troubling."

"It shows a lack of respect for the rule of law. As a legislator or lawmaker you are and should be held to a higher standard and my opponent has never accepted responsibility for this as well as a number of past discretions," he said in a statement. "I think the voters should certainly keep this in mind as any past experiences are indicators of how people will behave in the future."

In addition, Lindsay had his own legal troubles in 2012 when he was sued by his former employer, the Kinloch Consulting Group LLC based in Melville, for allegedly stealing confidential information on his last day working for the company, according to reports.

In 2013, Supreme Court Justice Emily Pines stated that while a "tremendous amount of information" was taken by Lindsay, that most of it was likely not very confidential and ruled that Lindsay could not solicit the clients from his former job for his own insurance company for two years, Newsday reports.

In response, Lindsay stated "it was a frivolous business dispute that was settled six years ago."

Piccirillo released this statement in response: "While in my 20s, I had played in a small neighborhood poker game. I owned up to it and moved on. I received a non-criminal violation; essentially a traffic ticket. The Suffolk County Democrats and Mr. Lindsay are trying to exploit a frivolous issue to score cheap political points. What Mr. Lindsay won't tell you is that he was caught stealing confidential client files, in an effort to build his insurance business, a business which apparently occupies most of his time, leaving little time for the taxpayers who pay him more than $100,000 for his part-time County job. I will let the voters decide which is the worse offense...playing in a small poker game or stealing confidential files from your employer?"