Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

A federal judge has dismissed a former Spring Valley police officer's nearly decade-old lawsuit claiming the department retaliated against him for acting as a whistle-blower.

Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith found David Lebron failed to prove his accusations and that the allegations of retaliation came long after he publicly complained the department lacked certified Spanish-speaking officers to interview witnesses and suspects. Lebron claimed the lack of certified interpreters could have jeopardized cases, something denied by police and prosecutors.

Village police later alleged they found evidence of corruption involving Lebron and asked the FBI to investigate. The police also probed allegations that Lebron tipped off drug dealers, filed false reports and took other actions unbecoming a police officer. The FBI didn't bring charges against Lebron but the police investigation led to criminal charges; a Rockland County jury acquitted the officer.

Lebron's attorney, Francis Young, said Tuesday that he would appeal Smith's 27-page ruling dated Jan. 8 that dismissed the civil rights lawsuit against now-Police Chief Paul Modica and the village.

Lebron's lawsuit accused the department and village of retaliation against him for exercising his First Amendment rights. But the judge found a lack of a constitutional violation, which in turn led her to dismiss Lebron's other claims of conspiracy to retaliate and malicious prosecution.

"She acted on a very narrow issue," Young said. "When someone alleges retaliation for protected speech, the law requires him to prove the retaliatory acts came somewhat soon after the protected speech."

Lebron first sued in 2007, alleging then-Police Chief Anthony Furco declined to promote him twice to sergeant because he was Hispanic. Lebron then amended the complaint in 2011 to add the retaliation claims against Modica and other investigators, before refining the charges and refiling the lawsuit a couple years later.

The judge said Lebron's allegations regarding the Spanish-speaking officers were made too many years before the start of the criminal investigations into Lebron to connect the two matters.

Young maintained the investigations into Lebron began when Modica was a lieutenant, before he took over as chief in June 2007 and pushed them along. Lebron was suspended in November 2007 and ultimately fired after a hearing officer found him guilty of many of the departmental charges brought in the case.

The village's lawyer, Lance Klein, said the lawsuits were frivolous.

"As we suspected all along, the claims were completely fabricated," Klein said. "He (Lebron) simply testified that he heard, from other sources, that officers had on an occasion or two misinterpreted a word or two. He was never able to point to any specific misinterpretation.The fact is there were no bad translations, and more importantly, he was not retaliated against for making the complaint to the Rockland DA."

"Ultimately Magistrate Judge Smith saw through his charade and found that he had no merit at all to any of his claims," Klein said

Klein said the judge's decision vindicated Modica, who was just doing his job.

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