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<\/a><\/p>\nZamiara, 43, was neither charged nor disciplined. Instead, he was first placed on paid leave while the Monroe County Sheriff\u2019s Office investigated, three sources told Investigative Post. He was then permitted to resign. The sheriff\u2019s office never charged Zamiara, nor made any referrals to the Monroe County District Attorney, according to spokespeople for both agencies.<\/p>\n
In November, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia hired Zamiara as a correctional officer. He\u2019s currently assigned to the county jail in Alden. The part-time salary is $18,945 per year, according to a March payroll record obtained by Investigative Post.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Zamiara made $121,965 working for Monroe County.<\/p>\n
Rachel Barnhart, a Monroe County legislator, said the case raises numerous questions that neither Garcia nor Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter have answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know what Monroe County told Erie County, if anything,\u201d Barnhart said. \u201cThere are so many questions here. These are \u2026 alleged crimes. Why weren\u2019t the authorities notified that this happened? This just didn\u2019t happen once. This happened dozens of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither Zamiara nor Baxter responded to requests for interviews from Investigative Post. In a statement, David Marcucci, a spokesperson for Baxter, said the sheriff\u2019s office conducted a \u201cthorough and lengthy investigation,\u201d that the sheriff\u00a0 \u201cproceeded with the disciplinary process\u201d but that Zamiara \u201cresigned during the disciplinary phase of the internal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why the sheriff\u2019s office never charged Zamiara, despite finding that he\u2019d broken the law, Marcucci said the department conducted an internal investigation only, which he said carries a lower evidentiary burden than a criminal investigation. Calli Marianetti, a spokesperson for the Monroe County District Attorney, said the sheriff\u2019s office never referred the case for prosecution.<\/p>\n
Garcia, the Erie County sheriff, did not respond to an emailed interview request or to a message left on his cell phone.<\/p>\n
Christopher Horvatits, a spokesperson for Garcia, also declined to comment on the hiring. He said in an emailed statement the Erie County Sheriff\u2019s Office \u201cconducts a robust background investigation of each job applicant\u201d including administering a test, checking an applicant\u2019s criminal history and speaking with their former employers.<\/p>\n
Jason Haynes, a retired Monroe County Sheriff deputy who had his medical files accessed by Zamiara, told Investigative Post he remains unsatisfied. He said Baxter\u2019s administration did not properly investigate Zamiara.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pissed off, man. He went into my files,\u201d Haynes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gave him another job down the road. To me, that\u2019s just corruption right there. That\u2019s not discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who is Michael Zamiara?<\/p>\n
Three Monroe County Sheriff\u2019s Office sources who spoke with Investigative Post described Zamiara as an ally of Baxter who the sheriff protected.<\/p>\n
Hired in 2005, Zamiara was a jail deputy who rose to sergeant over the past two decades. The sources said, however, that Zamiara earned a reputation for nitpicking colleagues\u2019 work and \u201ccreating a hostile work environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was usually on the radar of jail administration,\u201d one source, a retired sheriff\u2019s deputy, told Investigative Post. \u201cThey were always at odds. So the sheriff reassigned him to himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Michael Zamiara, left, with Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter on the sheriff\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n
Zamiara began serving as \u201cSheriff\u2019s coordinator\u201d in January 2022. His duties included co-hosting Baxter\u2019s podcast<\/a>, \u201cBehind the Badge.\u201d His predecessor in that role, Captain John Kennedy, would assist the Internal Affairs division with its investigations, sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Zamiara took over the role, he maintained that file access. Marcucci, the spokesperson, said he did so \u201cwithout permission.\u201d<\/p>\n What happened<\/p>\n Zamiara was caught by accident.<\/p>\n In 2024, a different issue in the Monroe County Jail prompted an audit within the Sheriff\u2019s Office to determine which employees had access to the department\u2019s different file systems. It was during that review that someone noticed Zamiara had been accessing and downloading Internal Affairs files.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring an internal audit of computer usage, we discovered then-sergeant Zamiara may have accessed files without permission,\u201d Marcucci, the spokesperson, said.<\/p>\n A monthslong Internal Affairs investigation ensued. Investigative Post, through a source, obtained a copy of the 54-page report. The findings were extensive.<\/p>\n Over a six-month period from May 31 to December 13, 2024, investigators found that Zamiara routinely used his access to internal file systems to look up medical and disciplinary files of colleagues. In April 2025, the investigation concluded he\u2019d illegally accessed medical files on five occasions and disciplinary files more than 130 times.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several charges indicated Zamiara downloaded files, including body-worn camera footage.<\/p>\n Zamiara\u2019s unlawful access to files, however, spanned his tenure in the Sheriff\u2019s Coordinator role, according to the sheriff\u2019s investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou engaged in a course of conduct both on-duty and off-duty that was unauthorized between January 2022 and September 2024,\u201d the report concluded. \u201cDuring said time, you knowingly used erroneously given Monroe County computer network permissions to access MCSO files \u2026 which you knew were not part of your job description or official duties to access.\u201d<\/p>\n After being confronted by his superiors, Zamiara confessed to knowingly and illegally accessing the internal affairs files, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShortly after starting your assignment, you admitted you knew your computer access [to the file systems] \u2026 was erroneously given to you,\u201d the report continued. \u201cAt that point, you failed to ask for clarification to the nature of your computer access permissions, or bring light of the error to your supervisor for direction and correction.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to our free weekly newsletters<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sources told Investigative Post that those who had their files accessed by Zamiara were sent an email by Sheriff\u2019s Office leadership notifying them of what had happened. Each person was then permitted to meet with leadership to discuss the breach of confidentiality.<\/p>\n Haynes, the retired deputy, took the meeting. He said he questioned leadership about what investigatory steps were taken. He wanted to know, for example, if Internal Affairs had searched Zamiara\u2019s personal laptop and phone to determine if he had kept any of the files he\u2019d accessed and downloaded.\u00a0The answer: no. The investigation ended after Zamiara admitted his wrongdoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no investigation,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cThere was a questioning. That\u2019s not an investigation. There\u2019s a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Zamiara was placed on paid leave during the inquiry, sources said. Pay records indicate he made $121,000 in 2024. The investigation concluded in April 2025 and he left the following month.<\/p>\n The problem of \u2018wandering officers\u2019<\/p>\n In New York, law enforcement officers must be trained by the agencies that hire them in order to be certified for employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Should an officer resign or be fired in connection with allegations of misconduct, the state strips their certification, preventing them from working elsewhere.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what happened to Zamiara. But under state rules, he was then permitted to regain certification to work in Erie County.<\/p>\n Such decertifications are tracked by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, which maintains a database to track decertifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n An officer\u2019s training certificate \u201cis immediately invalidated when an officer is removed for cause for misconduct,\u201d according to the division\u2019s website, or when \u201can officer has resigned or retired subsequent to, or in connection with, allegations of misconduct.\u201d<\/p>\n The database is meant to help the state\u2019s 528 law enforcement agencies know who they\u2019re hiring. Over the past decade, 1,805 officers have been decertified. That includes 18 officers from the Erie County Sheriff\u2019s Office and four from the Monroe County\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n