{"id":12596,"date":"2025-10-22T21:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12596\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:59:08","slug":"former-ny-state-trooper-sentenced-to-6-months-in-jail-for-faking-his-own-shooting-hartford-courant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/12596\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NY state trooper sentenced to 6 months in jail for faking his own shooting \u2013 Hartford Courant"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 A former New York state trooper who shot himself, then falsely claimed he was wounded<\/a> by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway, sparking a regionwide search, was sentenced to six months in jail on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Thomas Mascia was also given five years of probation and ordered to undergo mental health treatment and pay nearly $290,000 in restitution in Nassau County court in Mineola. <\/p>\n

Mascia pleaded guilty in May<\/a> to falsely reporting an incident, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. He resigned in January after being suspended without pay<\/a> while state police launched a criminal investigation<\/a> into the shooting. <\/p>\n

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly called the former officer\u2019s actions \u201cdisgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis lies wasted hundreds of hours of law enforcement manpower, deeply cost taxpayers in Nassau County, and betrayed the public\u2019s trust of those in uniform,\u201d she said in a statement after the sentencing. <\/p>\n

Mascia claimed he was shot in the leg on Oct. 30, 2024, by a driver while parked on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway, about a mile from his home. He described the fictitious driver as a \u201cdark-skinned\u201d man who fled in a car bearing temporary New Jersey plates heading toward New York City. <\/p>\n

Instead, prosecutors say, Mascia staged the scene of the alleged shooting by scattering shell casings, then shot himself at a park, stashed the .22-caliber rifle, drove back to the highway and called for backup. <\/p>\n

Jeffrey Lichtman, who represents Mascia and his parents, said in an email that the former trooper is \u201cmortified by his actions and happy to finally get on with his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s previously said Mascia, who became a trooper in 2019, was suffering from an undiagnosed mental health problem at the time of the shooting and has been undergoing treatment.<\/p>\n

Mascia\u2019s parents had also pleaded guilty to possessing an illegal firearm, which was found during a search of the family\u2019s home. <\/p>\n

Thomas A. Mascia, the defendant\u2019s father, was sentenced to five years of probation Wednesday. Dorothy Mascia was given a one-year conditional discharge.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 22, 2025 at 2:25 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 A former New York state trooper who shot himself, then falsely claimed he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9937,266,85,607,9,11,10,49,51,50,12],"class_list":["post-12596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-courts-and-legal","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-national-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}