Michael D'Onofrio, and Robert Brum

The Journal News

NEW CITY - ​The first day of testimony in the hearings on charges accusing Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan of deleting the contents of his town iPhone soon after he was suspended left open the possibility the data could be retrieved.

Prosecutor William Harrington called two forensic data experts as witnesses during the daylong hearing at Town Hall. The two men testified about their analysis of Sullivan's iPhone and the other devices.

Andrew Crouse, the second forensic data expert to testify, said Sullivan’s iPhone appears to have been reset on July 21, 2016 — which was the day after Sullivan was suspended.

Once the phone was reset, Crouse testified the data on the phone ceased to exist, but he could not determine whether the data had been backed up elsewhere.

Crouse also said that if analysts were given the log-in information linked to the phone's Apple iCloud account, the deleted data potentially could be retrieved — that is, if the data was previously backed up there.

Under questioning from Sullivan's lawyer Richard Glickel, Crouse testified there also was the potential that additional data from Sullivan's phone, such as call logs, "would be attainable from other sources," such as the phone's carrier.

READ: 19 charges against the police chief

RESPONSE: Sullivan's lawyer offers a denial

In addition to Sullivan's phone, Crouse testified that his analysis found that former Detective Sgt. Stephen Cole-Hatchard also reset his town iPhone on July 19.

The first call Cole-Hatchard received on his reset iPhone, Crouse added, appears to have been from Sullivan's phone.

Crouse also testified that an analysis of a hard drive in a town computer used by Cole-Hatchard found there was a "purge" of more than 12,400 files in September. That was “not a common user-action,” Crouse said, because of the technical way it was carried out. Cole-Hatchard resigned in September after being placed on leave.

Tuesday's hearing marked the latest chapter in a drama that has divided the town, set off shock waves across Rockland and spawned a series of lawsuits since Sullivan was suspended in July.

As Sullivan arrived at Town Hall for the hearing, he said he expected "vindication" from the hearing.

The proceedings are being held before hearing officer Robert Ponzini and concerned only 19 of the 41 charges against Sullivan that center on the cell-phone allegations. The charges accuse Sullivan of resetting the phone despite knowing the device may have held information relevant to a pending internal investigation and litigation.

Sullivan has gone to court to block 22 other charges — ranging from insubordination to condoning improper surveillance operations.

Tuesday's hearing began with opening statements from Harrington and Glickel, who sharply disagreed about the accusations.

Harrington said in his opening statement that by deleting the data on their phones, Sullivan and Cole-Hatchard acted by their own rules and contrary to previous internal investigations against other officers.

“There are two sets of rules in the Clarkstown Police Department: One set for the chief and Cole-Hatchard, and another set for every member of the Clarkstown Police Department," Harrington said. "The rank and file officers of the Clarkstown police department must follow the rules. ... Chief Sullivan and Cole-Hatchard flaunted the rules.”

But Glickel portrayed Sullivan as working diligently with Supervisor George Hoehmann's administration and the town during its internal investigations.

Glickel also said any data on Sullivan's phone that could be considered evidence was “circumstantial."

“There is no proof and there can be no proof in this matter against the chief, that there was information on the phone that was destroyed," he said.

Glickel contended that Sullivan was not informed that data on his town iPhone could be used as evidence, nor told to surrender his phone.

Glickel also called the entire investigation a "diversion" to detract attention from the campaign contribution former police sergeant Michael Garvey made to Hoehmann.

After the hearing was adjourned for the day, Sullivan said he was “a little disappointed that we’re not continuing, because I’ve been waiting a long time to get my story out (and) defend myself.”

The suspended police chief declined to comment on the day's testimony, but he said he looked forward to Wednesday's hearing. Sullivan is expected to testify at some point.

"I think we’ll start to see what these charges are really all about," Sullivan said.

Among those in the crowd were several people wearing shirts saying, "We support Chief Sullivan."

Cole-Hatchard's lawyer, Joe Ranni, has called the cellphone allegations "baseless" and said the town could recover all the information from the device. Cole-Hatchard, who ran the town's Special Investigations Unit, has filed a lawsuit against the town.

Ponzini has two weeks from the end of the hearing to deliver a recommendation to the Town Board, which then must vote on whether to accept or reject it. The hearing continues at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Twitter: @mikedonofrio_