Turns out it's not just CIA heads who get themselves twisted up in Love Pentagons: a recently-retired Nassau Cop is accused of clocking in hundreds of on-duty hours he allegedly spent with a series of mistresses instead.
Michael Tedesco, 43, who is married with two children, pleaded not guilty yesterday to multiple counts of misdemeanor official misconduct, and felony counts of falsifying and tampering with business and public records. Prosecutors say he was visiting two women repeatedly while on patrol from June 2010 to February 2012, telling supervisors he was answering calls while really shacked up with them.
And reports say the story gets even more complicated. Tedesco, an 18 year veteran, is accused of having a third mistress, who may have also been mistress to fellow cop Joseph Casazza. The story takes a sad turn: Casazza committed suicide last March, allegedly because he knew he was being investigated. And the third mistress told investigators she had sex with other Nassau cops in addition to Tedesco and Casazza.
Cops spent eight months investigating Tedesco, who was found out when the neighbors of one of Tedesco's mistresses, Tara Obenauer, started seeing Tedesco's patrol car parked in her driveway. Obenauer told the Post that Tedesco used to have younger officers answer his calls so he could see her for a bit of on-duty delight. "He's someone with great psychological problems. I thought I knew him, but I only knew the persona he put forth; I didn't know him at all. He's an egomaniac," she said.
Prosecutors say he was routinely late to calls—including one for a cardiac arrest—and lied to his superiors about where he'd been. And for the record, Obenauer says Tedesco, who retired in April when investigations ramped up, collected a $182,000 salary in 2011.
