Channel 10 is reporting that the reason Greece Police officer, Sergeant Robert Trowbridge was suspended last week was because he falsified recommendations supporting now convicted former Greece officer Gary Pignato. Trowbridge, with the GPD for 23 years was in charge of the background check on Pignato.
According to I-Team 10 sources, Pignato’s background check came back to town officials with glowing recommendations – those apparently vouching for his character were his command officers when he was at Rochester police Department and Palmyra’s Police Department. The problem is, some of those references appear to have been made up and Trowbridge never spoke to those people.
Channel 10 also reports that Trowbridge is suspended from the department, but will most likely be charged criminally for his actions. If all this is true, I wholeheartedly agree with that decision, for this guy and everyone else charged and convicted of wrongdoing. So much for this internal investigation being a waste. In my opinion, this is exactly what should be done in order to find the bad apples and toss them out of the barrel.
The Greece Democrat Committee, Supervisor candidate Dan Maloney and Greece Democrat political operative Dave Garretson have been licking their chops at capitalizing on the results of Joseph Loszynski’s investigation. They’re simply looking to use these issues to win political office.
I’m sure they are now all torn up having this monkey wrench thrown into their political plans. You have a police officer charged with running a background check illegally creating support testimonials praising a potential employee in order to secure their being hired. I will not be surprised to learn that Merrit Rahn was involved in some way.
But never fear, the Greece Democrats are a resilient bunch. I’m sure there will quickly be a new political spin placed on even this announcement to attack our evil town administration.
Don’t disappoint us Dan/Dave/GDC. Fire away. We’re waiting for your new-found expressions of sincere concern.