Ex-Hempstead cop pleads guilty to stealing, court papers say

A now-former Hempstead Village police officer pleaded guilty Monday after his arrest last year for stealing an encrypted portable police radio that prosecutors said he planned to sell to a towing company for $10,000, court records show.

Robert Van Wyen, 33, of Islip, pleaded guilty in Nassau County Court to felony charges of grand larceny and possessing stolen property and misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and using the device without authorization, the records show.

Van Wyen tried to sell the radio “for thousands in cash,” betraying his oath as a police officer and committing a crime against the taxpayers, Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said at the time of his March 2019 indictment.

The top prosecutor said access to confidential, scrambled police communications can “imperil the safety of law enforcement.”

State Supreme Court Justice Angelo Delligatti is expected to sentence Van Wyen to five years of probation and restitution when he appears in court in March, according to court records.

Van Wyen, who became a Hempstead police officer in 2010 and was shot in the line of duty in 2011, was on disability at the time of his indictment, his attorney Anthony La Pinta said previously.

The Hauppauge defense attorney said in a statement after Monday's plea that his client had resigned from the police force "effective immediately."

"Earlier today, Robert Van Wyen pleaded guilty to charges relating to the theft of police property. He has taken responsibility for his actions and has apologized for breaching his oath as a police officer," La Pinta added.

Singas spokeswoman Miriam Sholder said Monday that her office would decline to comment on the case.

Hempstead Village Mayor Don Ryan released a statement Monday afternoon saying that municipal officials "believe in due process."

The statement added: "Officer Van Wyen pleaded guilty to breaking the very laws he swore to uphold and protect.  No one is above the law and justice has been served."

Village officials also confirmed Van Wyen's resignation Monday.

A towing company could use a police radio to learn about vehicle crashes before competitors, potentially earning thousands of dollars as a result, according to authorities.

Police use portable radios to communicate with each other and 911 center personnel and the encrypted frequencies can't be heard on scanners available to the public.

The police radio theft happened between January 2016 and March 2017 and the device was worth more than $3,000, according to prosecutors.

The radio, equipped with encryption technology from the Nassau County Police Department, was stolen from the Hempstead police force, according to authorities.

Van Wyen’s arrest came at time when scandal continued to roil Hempstead’s police force, following Deputy Police Chief Richard Holland's bribery arrest — and not-guilty plea — and a different officer’s admission to misdemeanor charges in a plea deal that forced his resignation.

In May 2019, village Police Chief Paul Johnson pleaded not guilty to felony charges that included tampering with public records and grand larceny after denying involvement in a ticket-fixing scandal that also ensnared a Hempstead police sergeant — who also maintains his innocence.

Former village Trustee Perry Pettus is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to more than a dozen charges, including bribe-receiving, grand larceny, conspiracy, official misconduct and tampering with public records and a witness.