Former New York State Trooper Thomas Mascia, who shot himself, expected to plead guilty, multiple sources say

The former New York State trooper accused of falsely claiming he was shot by a "Black or dark-skinned" man on the Southern State Parkway is expected to plead guilty early next month at his next court appearance, according to multiple sources not authorized to speak on the issue.

Thomas Mascia, 27, of West Hempstead, was charged on Jan. 27 with filing a false report, official misconduct and tampering with evidence, a felony. Officials had said Mascia deliberately shot himself as a way of "gaining attention or sympathy for himself."

His parents, Dorothy and Thomas Mascia Sr., were also charged with illegal weapon possession when a subsequent search of the family home turned up a semiautomatic assault rifle in the bedroom.

The family is expected to plead guilty on May 7. Thomas Mascia will get 6 months in jail in exchange for his plea, according to a source. The parents are not expected to receive prison time, the source said.

Jeffrey Lichtman, the lawyer for the family, did not respond to email and phone requests for comment on the pleas.

At their arraignment in January, Lichtman said in a statement: "This case is a tragedy that was caused by unseen and untreated mental health issues. And now an entire family is suffering for it as they usually do in such situations ... There are many less severe and less dangerous ways to garner sympathy that don’t include shooting oneself."

The pleas stem from an Oct. 30 report that Mascia made claiming "a Black or dark-skinned Hispanic male" driving a black Dodge Charger had shot him in the leg while the ex-trooper was parked on the westbound side of the road just east of Exit 17, according to the criminal complaint.

Mascia described the getaway car in detail, telling authorities that it had a temporary New Jersey license tag: 997-636T, rear tinted windows and custom matte gray dual-exhaust tips.

The report prompted police to shut down the parkway while they launched a search for the phantom assailant.

Multiple groups, including New York City based-CopShot, offered rewards up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that his department was assisting in the search.

Mascia said he pulled over to help a stranded driver. The shooting happened so fast that he was not able to return fire and applied a tourniquet to his leg before medical responders arrived, authorities said at the time.

"Shots fired, shots fired, I’m hit," the trooper said, according a recording of his distress call posted on Broadcastify.com.

"I’m bleeding pretty good in the leg," the trooper said on the recording.

He was treated at Nassau University Medical Center for his wound and given a hero’s walkout ceremony with applause from a large contingent by uniformed officers from various law enforcement agencies.

"I’m feeling good," he said from his wheelchair as he was lead out of the hospital, his right leg bandaged from the wound.

It took only a couple of days before the ex-trooper’s story started to unravel.

Mascia, who had been a trooper since 2019, was suspended from the force five days after the shooting and investigators served warrants on his West Hempstead house that he shared with his parents. New York State Police announced they were no longer looking for the Charger.

"The shooter that we were looking for only existed in Mr. Mascia’s head, in his imagination," Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.

In reality, prosecutors said, Mascia had parked along the side of the parkway, sprinkled shell casings on the roadway, then drove to nearby Hempstead Lake State Park and shot himself. He then drove back to the location where he spread the casings and called in the shooting on his radio, authorities said.

In the criminal complaint, Trooper Charles Weilminster said Mascia did it for "the benefit of gaining attention or sympathy for himself."

Donnelly called the former trooper’s alleged ruse "unconscionable."

"He knew the fear that it would create and he did it anyway," she said at a news conference after was charged.

Mascia resigned from the state police ahead of his arraignment.

Mascia’s father, a former NYPD officer, had also left his law enforcement job under a cloud of scandal. In 1993, Newsday reported the elder Mascia, an officer with the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was fired on Feb. 10, the day he pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution charges.

"Mascia, of West Hempstead, and four other New York City cops who live on Long Island were arrested by Suffolk County Police in May, 1992, and charged with buying cocaine while on duty and distributing it on Long Island," according to the article.