Internal review found he was selling forfeited guns for store credit
COLONIE – A Colonie police Sergeant accused of taking weapons surrendered to the department and selling them for store credit for personal use submitted paperwork to retire from the department last week.
Sgt. George Thomaides was served with a notice of discipline on May 24 after an internal review of policies in the police department showed what Colonie police Chief James Gerace said were “discrepancies” relating to firearms that were scheduled for destruction.
In a story reported by the Times Union on May 27, Thomaides had access to the property room and allegedly traded transferred weapons that were turned into the department for destruction to local gun stores for credit. He allegedly personally used the credits at the stores.
“To be clear, these were not weapons used in a crime or under safe keeping, they were turned in by people who no longer wanted them,” Lt. Anthony Sidoti said. “That does not lessen the severity of this, but it will not affect any current or past criminal cases.”
The internal investigation will not stop because Thomaides retired and the Times Union reported that the notice of discipline served on Thomaides last week accused him of lying during an interview with internal affairs investigators in April, but did not include charges tied directly to the misappropriated firearms.
Gerace said that the department intends to notify the state Division of Criminal Justice Services that Thomaides had been served with a notice of discipline prior to his retirement taking effect. That notification could lead to revocation of his certification as a police officer.
New York amended its police certification regulations in 2016 to prevent officers who are under investigation for misconduct, including potential criminal charges, from resigning or retiring from a department to join another law enforcement agency.
Thomaides, 52, joined the Colonie Police Department in 1997 and had been an investigator and firearms expert.
Gerace said that while the process is “far from complete,” the department has already made changes to policies and procedures regarding the property-evidence room including: permanently assigning a Sergeant to the property room full time, conducting a best practices analysis for software and the property and evidence systems and enrolling personnel in courses taught by the International Association for Property & Evidence Inc.
“It is important for the community to know that as an agency, we took a critical look at ourselves, identified an issue, and are undergoing immediate corrective actions,” he said.
Gerace also said that the department was conducting a full investigation into the root cause of the issue and disciplinary action taken will be taken in accordance with department policy and union bargaining agreements.
