David Gurfein charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in 2010
GOP candidate David Gurfein was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in 2010 in Nevada, police records show. Oct. 18, 2016 Credit: Howard Schnapp
Republican David Gurfein, a candidate for Congress in Nassau’s 4th District, was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in September 2010 after authorities said he pushed the mother of his child during a confrontation at her Henderson, Nevada, home, police records show.
A first-time candidate running against Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), Gurfein, 51, of Manhasset, was arrested again in April 2011, after he was accused of violating an order by a Nevada court not to contact the woman, identified in police records as Marguerita Hembree-Rollins.
Gurfein, who served 25 years in the U.S. Marines and saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in an interview that the allegations were “baseless” and that the incident occurred “during a challenging time” in his relationship with Hembree-Rollins.
Gurfein pleaded no contest and was sentenced to anger management counseling. The charges were dismissed in 2012 after Gurfein complied with the terms of his sentence, court records show.
The Sept. 4, 2010, incident, first reported by the New York Post, occurred as Gurfein was giving his daughter, then 2, a bath at Hembree-Rollins’ home, according to a police incident report by the Henderson City Police Department.
The report says Gurfein grabbed Hembree-Rollins’ “left arm with his right hand and pushed her arm away from the door, which left bruises. David continued to tell Marguerita to ‘get out’ and again pushed her with both hands on her chest, causing her to fall onto her back.”
Rice campaign spokesman Coleman Lamb said “these revelations are shocking and deeply disturbing.”
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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