Man in cop scandal gets prison for drugs

The man at the center of a Nassau police corruption scandal will head to an upstate prison in the coming days, after he was sentenced Tuesday in the last of his criminal cases.

Judge Frank A. Gulotta Jr. sentenced Zachary Parker, 22, to 2 1/2 years in prison on drug charges, after Parker admitted to violating the terms of his probation on those charges. That sentence will run concurrent with a 1- to 3-year sentence he received last week for violating the terms of his probation in the burglary case that led to the police commander indictments. Parker pleaded guilty earlier this year in both cases.

"I'm extremely sorry," Parker told Gulotta in Nassau County Court.

"You have not only disappointed the court, who gave you an opportunity turn your life around," Gulotta said. "You've let your family down, and most of all you let yourself down."

Parker's burglary conviction is at the center of a scandal that led to three top police commanders being charged with misconduct and conspiracy in March.

Prosecutors have said the now-retired police commanders -- William Flanagan, second deputy commissioner; John Hunter, deputy chief of patrol; and Alan Sharpe, Seventh Precinct squad deputy commander -- worked to quash an investigation into the burglary of about $11,000 worth of audiovisual equipment from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore in May 2009 because of their relationship with Parker's father, Gary Parker, a police benefactor.

Another judge agreed in June to grant Parker youthful-offender status in the original burglary charge, sentence him to probation and suspend his driver's license.