Nassau Cop From Patchogue Pleads Guilty in Groping Case, Avoids Prison

A Nassau County cop from East Patchogue has pleaded guilty to official misconduct and resigned from the police department after he used his authority as an officer to coerce a woman into touching him sexually during a traffic stop last February, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday.

Garrett Mannerz, 34, was sentenced to 80 hours of community service. He had been facing up to seven years in prison on multiple charges, including felony bribe receiving, but a plea deal knocked the case down to a single misdemeanor official misconduct charge.

Mannerz resigned as a police officer Wednesday afternoon and is ineligible for a NCPD pension, Rice said.

“Garrett Mannerz abused his authority by taking advantage of a woman while on duty, and his conduct was a disgrace to the Nassau County Police Department," she said. “Nassau County is a safer place with Garrett Mannerz off the police force.”

Mannerz was arrested on June 15 following an investigation by the Nassau District Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Bureau in conjunction with the Nassau County Police Department Internal Affairs Unit (IAU).

According Rice, Mannerz stopped a vehicle that was travelling in the vicinity of Hempstead Turnpike and Newbridge Road in East Meadow on Feb. 27, 2011. Three women in their early 20s were inside the car.

After performing field sobriety tests on the driver, Mannerz ordered one of the passengers out of the car, asked for her phone number and had the woman walk over to his patrol car where he told her that if she “did something for him,” then he would allow the driver to leave the location without receiving a summons or being charged criminally, Rice said.

Mannerz then grabbed the woman’s wrist and made her touch him sexually. He also arranged to call her to set up a “date," Rice said.

According to Rice, after allowing the women to leave, Mannerz began to place sexually suggestive calls to the woman. He was arrested after the victim recorded one of the phone calls and brought it to police.

A judge also issued orders of protection prohibiting Mannerz from contacting the three women who were in the car.