Edward Mangano calls alleged sexts a fraud

Noah Manskar

Nassau County police said this week they are investigating the possible hacking of County Executive Edward Mangano’s cell phone after an exchange of explicit text messages on Mangano’s phone were released that he said were a hoax.

Both Mangano and Karin Murphy Caro, a Hauppage-based public relations firm executive, said in statements Feb. 14 the messages were produced by hackers using a method Mangano called “spoofing.”

“I am outraged at this smear attempt and will take legal action against the sick individual who has sought to assassinate my character and hurt my family,” Mangano said in his statement.

The messages, obtained by CBS 2 New York from an anonymous source and reported Feb. 13, purport to show an exchange between Mangano and Caro, CEO of BluChip Marketing, establishing a sexual and romantic relationship between them.

Mangano told CBS 2 the messages came from his phone number but he did not send them.

The Nassau County Police Department said Mangano reported “social media impersonation attempts” on Feb. 4, the day after Caro told his office about the messages after CBS 2 contacted her, Mangano said in the statement.

Police said in a statement they received from CBS 2 “a document from an anonymous source in what appears to be a cut and paste of a text from an ‘Ed M.’ and tweet from Karin Caro, which she denies ever sending.”

“To be clear, the alleged text messages and tweets are fabricated, false and never happened,” Caro said in a statement released Sunday, as first reported by Newsday. “I never communicated with the county executive via text message, nor even have his cell phone number.”

That tweet contained one of the text messages in question, CBS 2 reported. Caro told the station her Twitter account had been hacked.

The Nassau police department’s social media monitor, which routinely watches Mangano’s Twitter account, found no record of the tweet, Mangano said in his statement.

Efforts to reach Caro through her Twitter account and BluChip Marketing’s phone numbers and email address were unavailing.

Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter told Newsday police “believe both the victims,” Caro and Mangano, “are credible.” The department will conduct a “fair and impartial” investigation despite Mangano’s influence over the department, he told Newsday.

Police spokesman Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun declined to further comment on the case Monday because it’s under investigation.

Manny Gomez, a security expert CBS 2 interviewed for its report, told the TV station the fact that the messages showed a conversation between two parties referring to a specific incident raised questions about whether they could be fabricated.

Mangano, a Republican, told CBS 2 political opponents may have targeted him.

Caro has had a “professional relationship” with Mangano through her firm, she said in her statement.

BluChip Marketing has received two Nassau County contracts, Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said in an email: one in 2013 for $24,500, and another in 2014 for $24,000.

Under the contracts with the county parks department, BluChip coodinated events benefitting veterans and the Games for the Physically Challenged, Nevin said.

Both contracts received nine separate approvals, Nevin said, but Mangano did not approve either.

Caro also interviewed Mangano in two videos posted to thedailyblu.com, a BluChip-affiliated website, saying in one she has been “inspired” by him.

She has also made several posts on her blog supporting Mangano and his initiatives.

“He is a man I know to be of goodwill and of the highest professional standard. He has never wavered from those qualities,” Caro said of Mangano in her statement.

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