GENESEO — Monday afternoon District Attorney Greg McCaffrey took the podium to discuss the ongoing investigation that has resulted in the resignation of nine jail deputies. At the press conference Monday, McCaffrey went into great detail regarding the entire process of the investigation involving the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department as well as the investigation by his office along with the State Police. Yet, many questions were left unanswered or responses were given with ambiguity.
McCaffrey stated that the only information or sworn statements that any investigation had cultivated was those of the Sheriff’s office at a time when the offending deputies were aware that the investigation was not criminal. However, McCaffrey went on to say that once the State Police got involved, none of the accused deputies cooperated with the criminal investigation being conducted.
“This office took the appropriate amount of time to thoroughly review this case.” McCaffrey said in his opening statement, which lasted nearly twenty-five minutes, covering all of the bases. “The only information that we received, were voluntary statements from each of the nine deputies.” The voluntary statements given were the only facts that McCaffrey and his office were given to charge the deputies.
During an internal investigation conducted by the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, the deputies waived their Miranda rights while giving statements to the administration under former Sheriff John M. York. According to McCaffrey, the information gathered during this internal investigation was the only information that could prove the illegality of the accused deputies actions.
The investigation that the State Police conducted provided next to nothing useful for the District Attorney’s office. Former Sheriff York and Major Jim Rose were both interviewed by the State Police. York claimed that he had no knowledge of exchanging money for work and stood by the ideal that each shift that was swapped by any deputy was one that to his knowledge did not violate the law. Rose was interviewed at his residence, he responded to some of the investigator’s questions however would soon ask for the guidance of his lawyer.
Several questions asked by members of the media were not met with clarity. When asked about the potential involvement of senior administrators within the investigation, McCaffrey and Rick Allen responded that they took the accused deputies at their word as well as any other interviewed employee without taking any sworn statements.
Seemingly enough, there is barely enough to charge these nine jail deputies through the recent investigations, let alone enough information to sift deeper into the questions as to what supervising officer allowed this practice to go unrecognized or unpunished.
“The criminal portion of this investigation is over.” McCaffrey said in his lengthy opening statement on Monday.
However, during time allotted to the media to pose questions, McCaffrey was repeatedly asked if there was any chance supervising or administrative officials would be investigated or charged.
McCaffrey responded, ” The case is not really closed, we just do not have more information at this time. If anyone comes forward with more information, then we’ll take a closer look at it.”