Port resident Mullins sentenced to prison

BY BRANDON DUFFY

Edward Mullins, the former head of the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association and a Port Washington resident, was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for stealing $600,000 from the organization.

Mullins, who was frst elected in 2002, was charged with wire fraud in February 2022 and pleaded guilty earlier this year, admitting his involvement in a scheme to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from the association by submitting falsifed expense reports.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Mullins stole from the pockets of the NYPD sergeants he vowed to protect and represent.

“Behind the scenes, Mullins stole from the SBA and its members, treating the SBA as his personal piggy bank,” Williams said in a statement. “In doing so, Mullins disgraced his uniform, broke the law, and undermined the public’s trust in law enforcement. As today’s sentence demonstrates, no one — not even high-ranking union bosses — is above the law.”

Mullins said Thursday he is “a shell of the man he used to be” and must surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prison by Nov. 10, The New York Times reported.

“Life has completely crashed around me, and given me much time to think,” The New York Times reported.

Around September 2017, ofcials said, Mullins defrauded the association by using his per- sonal credit card to pay for various luxury items and meals at high-end restaurants before submitting the infated expense reports for reimbursement.

In one instance, ofcials said, Mullins submitted an expense report to the association’s treasurer for a $3,000 meal at a Manhattan restaurant, when the meal had no relevance to police work. Mullins also rarely included receipts when seeking reimbursements, according to offcials.

Continued on Page 40

Suffolk County District Attorney announced Friday that the “Fire Island Jane Doe” was identified as Karen Vergata, a former North Shore resident.