Special 'Get-Out-Of-Jail' Rules for Lawyer-Prosecutors

Assistant Bronx DA Jennifer Troiano may have skirted hot water before
The New York Daily News by Alison Gendar, Kevin Deutsch and Rocco Parascandola - April 30, 2011

A Bronx prosecutor who got a DWI arrest voided may have skirted hot water before - sources said she was involved in a wreck upstate in a city vehicle and never got into trouble. A police source familiar with the investigation alleges Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Troiano was driving a car in 2005 when she got involved in a wreck. Jose Arroyo, a detective assigned to the district attorney's office, was asleep in the passenger seat, the sources said. Since no one was arrested, there are no public records that definitively show who was driving. A bumper and a license plate were left at the scene, the police source claims. Authorities traced the car back to the district attorney's office. Still, the teflon prosecutor described by one colleague as a "wild child" wasn't charged with a crime or disciplined by her supervisors. "She knows the right people and keeps getting out of jams," a law enforcement source said. "She's not getting away with that if she's not an ADA." Prosecutors yesterday had little to say about the 2005 wreck. "Yes, we are aware of an accident involving Ms. Troiano and an NYPD detective," said Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx DA's office. He wouldn't comment further and Troiano's lawyer didn't respond yesterday to the allegations surrounding the 2005 crash. Arroyo was suspended, brought up on departmental charges and left the force, a police source said. Years later, his life took an even more sinister turn. In November 2008, he drugged a woman at a Bronx bar, took her to a motel in Westchester and raped her. Arroyo, 49, is serving a 15-year prison sentence. Troiano, 34, is a graduate of Cardozo Law School. She has worked several notable cases as a prosecutor - including a housing voucher fraud case. She also prosecuted a teen who was charged with killing a cat by cooking it in an oven last year. On August 26, Troiano planted the seeds of her now public problems when she was charged with driving drunk on the Major Deegan Expressway. Police said she caused a three-car wreck. During the investigation of that wreck, her bosses learned that Troiano had previously been detained and released after cops suspected she was driving drunk while leaving a Christmas party in 2009. Sources said Troiano was handcuffed and brought to the 44th Precinct stationhouse where she identified herself as a prosecutor. A cop voided the arrest, the sources said. A high-ranking police official said yesterday that the Bronx DA's office never contacted the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau. Police officials learned of the allegations about Troiano when the media began asking questions on Thursday. The Bronx district attorney's office is leading a probe into alleged ticket-fixing that is expected to result in the indictments of about 40 cops - many of them union delegates. "The image this projects is: 'If they're not going to discipline their own people how can they go after cops?'" a police source said. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the Internal Affairs Bureau is reviewing precinct logs and computer records to figure out who voided the 2009 arrest. "We're investigating that allegation," Kelly said. "We haven't been able to find anything in our records about that supposed stop." Meanwhile, The News learned that Bronx prosecutors are beginning to discuss plea deals with dozens of suspects because the cops involved in their cases are linked to alleged ticket-fixing. "It's serious damage control," one prosecutor said. "These are good cases that aren't going to get made they way they should." rparascandola@nydailynews.com