FORMER NYC DOC OFFICER SENTENCED TO 90 DAYS IN JAIL FOR PLANTING MAKESHIFT WEAPON IN RIKERS ISLAND CELL

Defendant Was Convicted by Jury 

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber today announced that a former NYC Department of Correction Officer has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after a jury convicted him of Tampering with Physical Evidence and first-degree Falsifying Business Records for putting a sharpened piece of plexiglass in an inmate’s cell. 

District Attorney Clark said, “The former Correction Officer’s action was so egregious as many of his colleagues have been victims of slashings in the jails. I thank the Department of Investigation for their work in holding him accountable. But a 90-day sentence falls short of sending the message that corruption that imperils staff and inmates is intolerable.”

Commissioner Strauber said, “The City’s Correction Officers are critical to the safety and security of our jail system and the vast majority act with integrity in carrying out this vital responsibility. This defendant failed his fellow officers, persons in custody and the public when he planted a makeshift weapon in the cell of a person in custody. He now stands convicted and sentenced and no longer works for the Department of Correction. DOI and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate and prosecute those Officers who break the law and breach their duty. I thank the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for its partnership to ensure stability in the City’s jail system and the Department of Correction for bringing allegations against this Officer to our attention.”

District Attorney Clark said Dionisio Rosario, 35, was sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Timothy Lewis to 90 days in jail for Tampering with Physical Evidence and firstdegree Falsifying Business Records. He was sentenced to 90 days on each felony to run concurrently. The defendant was also sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge for Official Misconduct. The people had requested 1 1/3 to four years in prison. A jury convicted Rosario after a two-week trial.

According to the investigation, on April 4, 2023, members of the DOC Emergency Services Unit, including Rosario, were conducting a search for contraband inside of Robert N. Davoren Center (“RNDC”) 5 Upper North housing area. The defendant entered the cell of a detainee who asked Rosario to search him after sundown so he would not violate observance of Ramadan. The defendant yelled at the detainee to put down a Qur’an which was in his hand, and sprayed him with chemical agent, and the two men fought.

Shortly after, the defendant is captured on video surveillance, including his own body worn camera, grasping a sharpened object and entering the cell of the inmate and placing a 4.5-inch piece of sharpened plexiglass near the sink area. The defendant is seen searching other areas of the cell before coming back to the sink area, where he removed the weapon from where he planted it. The defendant said he recovered it by the sink area, but also stated it was in the inmate’s hand. He gave false information in four DOC reports.

District Attorney Clark thanked the Department of Investigation, specifically Correction Officer Investigator Anthony Palmer of DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for DOC.