Huntington man gets 2-year ban from LIRR after pleading guilty to sexual abuse

A Huntington man was banned this week from riding the Long Island Rail Road for the next two years — a first for the transit agency — as part of a plea deal for sexually assaulting a train conductor in August.

Michael Harewood, 47, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court to third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. A two-year order of protection was issued preventing Harewood from having any contact with the conductor, records show.

The deal also prohibits Harewood from riding the LIRR until late 2024. The case is the first time that a 2020 state law, allowing the courts to prohibit individuals from riding the rails, has been utilized.

“Long Island Rail Road customers and workers can ride easier today, knowing that a criminal with a history of preying on railroad workers is banned from the rails,” said LIRR interim president and Metro-North Railroad president Catherine Rinaldi.

Bryan Cameron, Harewood’s Sayville-based defense attorney, said as part of the plea deal, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office agreed to drop 11 other outstanding misdemeanor cases against his client, including petit larceny, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and trespassing. Cameron declined to comment further. 

Charging documents indicate Harewood was on an LIRR train on Aug. 20 at 4:39 p.m. when he forcibly touched a female conductor without her consent. He was arrested Sept. 6 and held on $25,000 cash bail.

“We must do everything in our power to keep riders and workers safe, and by banning this criminal from the system, the court has done just that,” said MTA chairman and Chief Executive Janno Lieber.

A 2020 state law allows the MTA to ban individuals from riding any part of the transit system for up to three years for sexually assaulting passengers or employees or physically assaulting MTA staff.

But until this week the measure had never been utilized by the courts, despite a number of high-profile crimes on the transit system in recent years, agency officials said last month in letters to local district attorneys and judges.
“This is a step in the right direction, and we want to see more perpetrators that commit any type of crime or assault against our members and our customers banned from our system,” said Anthony Simon, who leads Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation, the LIRR’s largest union.