P.I. from Glen Cove tried to extort client: DA

Rose Weldon
Private investigator Jay Salpeter is accused of harrassing a former client whose exoneration he helped secure. (Photo via LinkedIn)

A private investigator from Glen Cove has been indicted for allegedly attempting to extort a client over the span of at least three years with threatening emails and phone calls, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced this week.

Jay Salpeter, 69, a resident of Glen Cove and president of the Garden City-based Jay Salpeter and Associates Private Investigations, was arraigned Tuesday before Judge Felice Muraca and charged with attempted grand larceny in the second degree by extortion, a D felony; two counts of attempted grand larceny in the fourth degree by extortion, an A misdemeanor; and two counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree, an A misdemeanor. If convicted on the top charge, the maximum sentence is two to seven years in prison.

Singas said in a statement that between Jan. 12, 2018, and March 27, 2021, Salpeter allegedly sent or left his former client, Martin Tankleff, dozens of emails and voicemails threatening him and attempting to obtain money Salpeter believed he was owed for services.

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Salpeter had been employed as a private investigator as part of a defense team that secured Tankleff’s exoneration after he was convicted in Suffolk County in 1990 of murdering his parents and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. The charges were dropped in 2008.

The investigator and former NYPD detective allegedly sent emails threatening to cause physical injuries to Tankleff if he failed to give Salpeter money and left voicemails threatening to harm Tankleff’s reputation or expose secrets if he failed to pay.

Rick Whelan, chief of the Rackets and Enterprise Crime Bureau, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Lorer of the bureau are prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Thomas Liotti. Efforts to reach Liotti for comment were unavailing.

Salpeter is due back in court on June 7.

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