The head of the Suffolk County Conservative Party has been convicted of fraud. A federal jury in Islip found Ed Walsh guilty of stealing more than $200,000 in taxpayer funds by lying on his timesheet as a corrections officer for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors used extensive records to show that Walsh was actually golfing or gambling even though his timesheets said he was working in Riverhead.
Walsh’s lawyers tried to convince jurors that Walsh was a victim of political revenge -- that Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco turned on Walsh, that Walsh’s job was always a flexible, 24/7 job that allowed for midday breaks to the golf course or trips to a casino in Connecticut.
The jury didn’t buy it. They believed prosecutors when they said Walsh was a thief who thought he was special because of his political power. They took less than two hours to deliberate.
Mentioned in Walsh’s trial was Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota. Even though Spota hasn’t been charged with any crime, federal prosecutors have accused him of protecting Walsh from investigation. This is the second trial in recent months where the federal government has named Spota. Earlier this year Spota was said to have helped former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke spy on FBI investigations.
