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The Sullivan TimesWe cover and uncover the big stories in Sullivan County, NY.

Thursday, March 28, 2019 - Issue 12

The Death of a Child & The Mystery About Jim Farrell’s Investigation Into a 2014 Automobile Accident

Son of Prominent CEO Robert Berman Was Behind Wheel

District Attorney Jim Farrell earlier this month

By Rich Klein

But according to the Department of Motor Vehicle report filed by Fallsburg Police and obtained by The SullivanTimes yesterday (Wednesday) the driver was Alan M. Berman-- the son of former Empire Resorts CEO Robert Berman and currently the CEO of a company named Novume. Berman, who turns 31 this week, has lived for a few years in Washington, D.C. after living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he moved after the accident. Previously, he was a resident of Emerald Green in Rock Hill and he graduated from Fallsburg High School.

District Attorney Jim Farrell took control of the investigation into the 2014 accident, according to Fallsburg Police Chief Simmie Williams. But Farrell late last week - and in the days since -- has declined to respond to this media outlet’s most basic questions about the status of the DA’s investigation.

Farrell has for many years campaigned for re-election to DA on a track record of many prosecutions, including his announcement in a news release yesterday (Wednesday) that he had obtained a grand jury indictment of a female correction officer on charges of alleged sexual abuse of inmates. But the public rarely learns about incidents when this Sullivan County District Attorney has declined to prosecute for any reason. This is one of those stories.

For the past three weeks, The SullivanTimes has been trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the fatal 2014 accident, including the condition of the driver or if any tickets were issued by any law enforcement agency for possible speeding or other traffic violations. Although many questions remain unanswered at presstime, the accident report answers some of them. Late last week, The SullivanTimes sent a Facebook message to Berman asking directly if he was the driver of the vehicle that resulted in the death of Weinman. He sent a message back earlier this week asking why we cared and then said “no comment.” He then blocked us on Facebook. But the DMV report confirms that Berman was the driver and his future wife, Jenna L. Widmann, was a passenger.

The accident report states that the Weinman ran into ​Tabaczynski Roard and was struck by a vehicle (Audi) driven by Berman. The report further notes that the vehicle was registered to his mother, Debbie Berman. The DMV incident report was signed by Fallsburg Police Officer John M. Chevalier and reviewed and signed by Fallsburg Police Seargent Chris Pratti. It was dated December 16, 2014. Fallsburg Police Chief Simmie Williams has declined to answer questions about the incident or the report, deferring instead to Farrell.

A member of the Weinman family reached Wednesday morning in Brooklyn expressed surprise upon learning that the report said the girl ran into the road. But the family member, who did not want to be identified, would not comment further about what he thought happened. He said he would try to get a comment from the victim’s father, Sholom Weinman, who remains unavailable for comment.

The SullivanTimes early Wednesday also contacted Robert Berman by phone and email to ask if there was a legal settlement with the Weinman family of any kind in the aftermath of the accident. He did not respond to the request for comment. Berman’s company is the parent of Firestorm Solutions, co-founded by Suzanne Rhulen Loughlin of Rock Hill.

Alan Berman married his longtime girlfriend Widmann in 2017 and purchased the Ultimate Fighting championship gym in Arlington, VA in January 2018. He said on social media pages that is also making his professional boxing debut in North Carolina in a few weeks. His Instagram account @TheBermanShow shows recent photos of him training. Soon after the accident, Berman erased the archives of his locally popular “Berman Show” podcast.

Bill Liblick, in a 2014 ​Mouth That Roars​ column, wrote this about Berman after listening to his now-defunct podcast: ​“​Alan Berman is edgy. Alan Berman says and does as he pleases. Alan Berman pushes buttons and often upsets a lot of people in doing so. To some his humor is cutting edge while to others it is tasteless.”

Farrell, a Republican, recently announced his candidacy for County Judge to replace Frank LaBuda, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 in December. His opponent is Democrat Cynthia Dolan, the Village Justice of Mamakating.