Karin Caro’s county contract documents subpoenaed by DA, sources say

Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas has subpoenaed documents relating to $48,500 in no-bid county contracts awarded to the marketing and public relations executive who allegedly exchanged racy text messages with County Executive Edward Mangano, sources said Friday.

The county received the subpoena, which requested the pair of contracts and correlating documents on Wednesday, according to three sources.

Both Mangano and Karin Murphy Caro, president of the Hauppauge-based BluChip Marketing, have both denied claims that they sent each other sexually suggestive messages and said their cellphones were hacked.

The district attorney’s probe into Caro’s contracts is separate from the police investigation into Mangano and Caro’s hacking allegations, the sources said. Singas’ office has said it has offered to help with the police’s hacking probe, but “have not been asked to assist.”

Singas spokesman Brendan Brosh declined to comment Friday when asked about the subpoena. Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin also declined to comment on the subpoena and would only say by email: “We will issue additional comment upon completion of the police investigation.”

Caro’s Williston Park-based attorney, Anthony Capetola, said in a brief interview that the district attorney’s office has not sought to speak to his client and he has no knowledge of a subpoena. He declined to comment further.

Years before the hacking allegations, Caro’s BluChip Marketing received two county contracts without going through a competitive bidding process — a $24,500 contract in 2013 to promote the county’s film industry and in 2014 a $24,000 contract to do event planning for the parks department.

County parks officials recommended that Caro receive the contracts, citing her “unique expertise” to execute the duties called for in the contracts. Those duties included promoting special events and her “extremely close relationship with the Nassau County Parks staff that no other marketing firm can match.”

The pacts awarded to Caro’s company fell below the $25,000 threshold that mandates scrutiny by the county legislature. The legislature’s Democratic minority earlier this week demanded evidence of Caro’s expertise.

Nassau County has awarded hundreds of contracts since 2011 under the $25,000 threshold, many to politically connected companies, Newsday has reported.

After WCBS-TV first reported the purported existence of text messages between Caro and Mangano, Nassau police began an investigation into the hacking allegations at the direction of Mangano.

But sources said Friday that investigators expected to get a signed deposition from Mangano but had not yet received one. Mangano has been interviewed twice by investigators, the sources said.

Newsday has reported that police also have not generated a formal criminal complaint, despite initial assertions from both Mangano and the police department that they had.

Criminal complaints are accusatory documents filed by the state that can launch a criminal prosecution and a court case. They can also be used by prosecutors to seek subpoenas.

A deposition is a sworn statement from a party or witness.

Nassau acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said in the police department’s news release that it had received a “criminal complaint” from Mangano was meant to indicate the county executive verbally reported the alleged hacking.

Krumpter, who was appointed acting commissioner by Mangano and is awaiting his nomination to the legislature for confirmation as the permanent commissioner, has vowed to conduct a thorough investigation and said if the conclusion indicates any wrongdoing by Mangano, it would then be turned over to another agency.

Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, a department spokesman, said Friday: “It’s under investigation and we can’t release any further details.”

Caro, who is extremely active on social media, did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday. But she previously told Newsday that she worked “very, very hard” as a county contractor, promoting parks and running a veterans salute.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.