A former commissioner of the Woodmere Fire District was sentenced to one year in jail for using language from a knowingly falsified court transcript in several Notices of Claim that he filed with the Woodmere Fire District and Fire Department and Nassau County seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation. He also sent the falsified transcript to a representative of his synagogue attempting to regain full access after a misdemeanor sex abuse case against him was dismissed on procedural grounds.
Judah Karkowsky was sentenced on June 20 to one year in jail. The Nassau County District Attorney’s office recommended two to six years in prison.
Karkowsky, was arrested on September 23, 2021, for two misdemeanor offenses, including a sex abuse charge. After his arrest, Karkowsky was suspended from the Fire Department.
The misdemeanor case against Karkowsky was dismissed, due to a violation which required the people to be ready for trial within 90 days of the defendant’s arraignment on the charges.
Karkowsky ordered a copy of the minutes, or court transcript, from the May 6, 2022 court appearance in which Nassau County District Court Judge Douglas Lerose ordered that the case be dismissed and explained the procedural grounds for the dismissal.
On May 16, 2022, Karkowsky sent a photograph of a page of the minutes to the co-chairman of the board of trustees at his synagogue that included a sentence that did not appear in the original, official minutes of the proceeding. The sentence said, “Notwithstanding, this court has believed for some time that the People’s case lacked substance and should not have reached this point.”
At trial, Lerose testified that he never uttered the words in the forged transcript, the official court reporter testified that he did not transcribe those words, and an audio recording of the court proceeding confirmed that Lerose did not make such a comment.
The evidence showed that Karkowsky intended to use the forged minutes to convince the leadership of the synagogue that his case was dismissed on merit, that he was innocent of the charges, and that he should be welcomed back to the synagogue.
Karkowsky was reinstated to the Woodmere Fire Department after his case was dismissed but was not allowed full access to the synagogue.
“Shunned from the synagogue where he worshiped after a sex abuse charge was levied against him, this defendant falsified court paperwork that he presented to a member of his synagogue’s leadership to get back into their good graces,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “[Mr.] Karkowsky fabricated language that he boldly attributed to a sitting judge giving a fictitious narrative for the dismissal of his case. The defendant later doubled down on this deceit by using the language he concocted to file multi-million-dollar lawsuits against Nassau County and the Woodmere Fire District and Department claiming he was falsely arrested and prosecuted. This defendant’s actions were a flagrant attack on the integrity of the criminal
justice system – something this office will not stand for. With today’s sentence, Karkowsky is now being held accountable by the same justice system he sought to undermine.”
On August 1, 2022, Karkowsky served a Notice of Claim on Nassau County seeking $15 million in compensation, alleging that members of the Nassau County Police Department and Nassau County District Attorney’s Office willfully ignored exculpatory evidence. Again, Karkowsky made a false statement about the comments made by Judge Lerose on May 6, 2022.
On August 4, 2022, Karkowsky served a Notice of Claim on the Woodmere Fire District and Fire Department seeking an additional $15 million in compensation, claiming that members of the Fire Department caused him to be falsely arrested. The Notice of Claim quoted the fraudulent statement attributed to Judge Lerose from the May 6, 2022 minutes as evidence of Karkowsky’s innocence. Karkowsky swore before a public notary to the contents of the statements in the
Notice of Claim.
Karkowsky was arrested on these charges on November 9, 2022.
Karkowsky, 44, was convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a Class D felony, three counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a class E felony, two counts of making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree, a class E felony, and two counts of second-degree criminal contempt a class A misdemeanor.