Former mayor Bill de Blasio’s ex-chief of security pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstructing investigators and tampering with evidence in the investigation into de Blasio’s misuse of city funds, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced. Howard Redmond, 58, admitted to ignoring requests to hand over his cellphone and deleting text messages critical to the New York Police Department’s probe between 2019 and 2021. He has been sentenced to a conditional discharge and ten days of community service, in addition to his termination from the NYPD. In 2019, city investigators found that de Blasio used his mayoral security detail to run personal errands, act as a chauffeur to his guests, and travel with him during his failed presidential campaign bid—all funded by taxpayers’ money. De Blasio was forced to fork over nearly half a million dollars to pay for the $319,794 in travel costs, plus a $155,000 fine. “Position and rank do not exempt anyone from cooperating and participating with a law enforcement investigation, and we will continue to hold accountable any public official who thinks the rules do not apply to them,” Manhattan DA Alvin L. Bragg said in a statement.
Read it at The New York Times
