Thomas Spota’s last day will be Friday, says DA’s office

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota’s last day in office will be Friday, his office said Wednesday.

Spota announced two weeks ago after his indictment on federal obstruction of justice charges that he would be leaving office.

Many of his critics, including County Executive Steve Bellone and Spota’s elected successor, Timothy Sini, have said all along that he should have resigned as soon as he was indicted.

Spota stayed in office to conclude “normal administrative matters relating to my retirement,” he said at the time. His chief assistant, Emily Constant, will run the office until Sini takes over on Jan. 1, unless Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appoints an interim successor before then.

Spota spokesman Robert Clifford said neither Spota nor Constant would comment Wednesday. Clifford said Constant met with all the bureau chiefs and deputy bureau chiefs Wednesday morning and instructed them to cooperate fully with Sini’s transition team.

Courts and the district attorney’s office are closed on Friday, so effectively Spota’s last day in office is Thursday.

Spota and one of his chief aides, Christopher McPartland, were indicted last month on federal charges accusing them of taking part in a cover-up of former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke’s assault of Christopher Loeb in 2012. Loeb had been arrested after Burke’s police vehicle had been broken into. Loeb was accused of stealing a duffel bag that contained a gun belt, pornography, sex toys and other items.

Spota and McPartland have pleaded not guilty.

Clifford has said that McPartland, who runs the political corruption unit, was reassigned “to duties unrelated to his former responsibilities.”