Karin Murphy Caro files federal suit against Suffolk County, Spota
Karin Caro of BluChip Marketing in Bohemia on July 27, 2011. Credit: Jason Andrew
A marketing executive once reported to have been involved in a sexting scandal with Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has filed an unrelated federal lawsuit against Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, Suffolk police and eight individuals, including her mother and sister, alleging false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Karin Murphy Caro, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Dec. 22, alleges she was improperly arrested on four separate occasions in 2015 by Suffolk police.
She alleges that one police inspector has a business relationship with her estranged husband, Alexander J. Caro, who owns a prominent security firm. The Caros are involved in a contested divorce, and Alexander Caro is named as a defendant in the federal suit.
Last February, WCBS-TV and other media reported Mangano and Karin Murphy Caro engaged in sexually suggestive text messages. Both Mangano and Caro, who had contracts for work with Nassau County, strenuously denied the reports. Mangano charged the sexts were part of a smear campaign, while Caro called them a “fabrication.”
After a probe, Nassau police found no evidence that Mangano exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with Caro and concluded they were a “hoax.” No criminal charges were filed.
According to her Dec. 22 lawsuit, Karin Caro was falsely arrested on March 5, 2015, on a charge of aggravated harassment in the second degree — a charge she claims was “without legal justification or probable cause.” The suit doesn’t explain the circumstances of the arrest.
She was subsequently arrested three separate times on charges of criminal contempt and violating orders of protection, according to her attorney, Jules Epstein of Uniondale. Epstein declined to comment further.
The contempt charges were filed by Karin Speer, Karin Caro’s mother, and by Lauren Doskoez, Caro’s sister, according to the complaint. Neither could be reached for comment.
The suit charges that Alexander Caro “schemed and conspired” with Speer and Doskoez to file the criminal complaints against Karin Caro, owner of BluChip Marketing, a Hauppauge marketing and public relations firm.
The suit also charges the Suffolk County Police Department “acted with malice” by causing her arrests and prosecution based on her mother and sister’s “false criminal complaints.” Suffolk County also is named as a defendant.
The lawsuit charges one of the named defendants, Suffolk County Police Insp. William Murphy, has “personal and business relationships” with Alexander Caro, who owns Smithtown-based Arrow Security. A Suffolk police spokeswoman declined to comment on pending litigation. William Goggins, an attorney for Alexander Caro, said he hadn’t seen the suit and declined to comment.
Karin Caro said Murphy and Alexander Caro orchestrated a “scheme and conspiracy” to deprive her of her civil rights, and that Suffolk police have “adopted a policy of permitting its officers to further the interests of favored individuals.”
Karin Caro in a text message called the events outlined in the lawsuit “horrific” and said she “just wants justice to be served.”
She alleges Spota prosecuted her without legal justification or probable cause, and treated her as a “common criminal.” She was acquitted of the four criminal charges last January, according to the suit.
Robert Clifford, a spokesman for Spota, said the office hadn’t been served with the suit and declined to comment.
Karin Caro said the arrests caused her “great mental and physical distress and anxiety,” and subjected her to “humiliation, embarrassment, scorn and ridicule among those who knew her.”
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
