An investigation found no evidence of the alleged sexting between Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and a Happauge marketing executive, Nassau County police said Thursday, Feb. 25.
After reviewing both Mangano’s and Karin Murphy Caro’s phones and computers, police determined neither phone was hacked but both parties were the victims of “a hoax,” Detective Sgt. Patrick Ryder said at a press conference on Thursday.
A printed document containing a tweet from Caro, CEO of BluChip Marketing, and lurid text messages from “Ed M.” was fabricated, and the texts were apparently lifted from websites, Ryder said.
“With the evidence that I have, the phones were not hacked or spoofed,” he said. “This document could have been created by anyone with an agenda.”
Police searched the contents of Caro’s two cell phones and two laptops and Mangano’s campaign cell phone, as well as Mangano’s three previous phone billing statements, and found no evidence the two communicated with each other or sent the alleged texts.
The police department’s social media monitor, which tracks Twitter mentions of Mangano’s account, had no record of the tweet the printed document showed, Ryder said.
Police also tracked the license plates from Mangano and Caro’s cars and found they were never in the same place at the same time, he said.
Ryder acknowledged it was possible either Mangano or Caro could be lying, or there could be another phone he didn’t know about.
But, he said, “The evidence that I have and the investigation I did shows that Mr. Mangano and Mrs. Caro did not sext each other.”
New York City television station CBS 2 first reported the alleged sexts Feb. 13 after receiving the printed document from an anonymous source.
Mangano reported “social media impersonation attempts” to police on Feb. 4, the day after Caro told his office about the messages after CBS 2 contacted her.
Caro denied ever sending the tweet, and both she and Mangano have repeatedly denied sending the text messages.
Caro has said she only knows Mangano through her marketing firm and does not have his cell phone number.
“As I stated from the moment this matter was brought to my attention, my family and I are the victims of a hoax perpetuated by a deranged individual,” Mangano said in a statement Thursday. “I can only hope that the media will report the truth in the same manner as they reported the outrageous lies against me and the other victim. Now, I respectfully ask that you leave my family and me alone on this matter.”
Caro’s Williston Park-based attorney Anthony Capteola could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Police launched the hacking investigation after Mangano reported the messages, but did not take a written complaint from the county executive, as Newsday reported Feb. 18.
Police don’t create a written statement, known as a 32B, in cases involving “politically exposed people” unless they are ready to make an arrest, Ryder said.
“It is sensitive in nature because of the business that these people are in,” Ryder said. “So I don’t go and ask a judge to take a 32B because I’ve got some tweet that occurred.”
Police presented the findings of their investigation to the Nassau district attorney’s office Feb. 23.
“We received preliminary findings from the police department late Tuesday afternoon and continue to offer our investigative assistance on this matter,” DA spokesman Shams Tarek said in a statement.
As Newsday has reported, the DA’s office subpoenaed Nassau County for all documents relating to two no-bid contracts Caro received in 2013 and 2014 totaling $48,500, Ryder said Thursday.
Under the contracts, one for $24,500 and another for $24,000, BluChip worked for the county parks department, “including coordination of events benefiting veterans and the Games for the Physically Challenged,” Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin has said.
Both contracts fell below the $25,000 threshold for legislative approval. They both received nine approvals, none of which came from Mangano, Nevin has said.
“Our review of the procurement of contracts in Nassau County is ongoing,” Tarek said in his statement Thursday.
