UPPER EAST SIDE — The former commanding officer of the 19th Precinct was arrested on Monday for taking bribes, including a prostitute and lavish trips, from two Brooklyn businessmen in exchange for police escorts, gun licenses and other favors, federal prosecutors said.
Deputy Inspector James Grant, who retired last month while the probe was ongoing, was arrested at his home Monday for accepting gifts in exchange for favors from two businessmen Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, according to sources.
Some of those gifts included trips to Rome and renovations to Grant's home, in addition to a recommendation that helped Grant get his job as the commanding officer of the 19th Precinct.
"These are never good days, never easy days," Commissioner Bill Bratton said during a press conference on Monday. "Police officers, especially high-ranking members of the department, have to know better."
Grant — who ran the 19th precinct since June 2014 until he was stripped of his gun and badge in April — had a four-year relationship with Reichberg, who introduced him to Rechnitz, according to prosecutors.
In January 2013, the former precinct commander, who is married with children, traveled to Las Vegas with Reichberg and Rechnitz, where he received gifts from the businessmen, including "services" from a prostitute, a complimentary room and a round-trip private flight, according to a federal criminal complaint.
The trip cost at least $59,000, not including the cost of hiring the prostitute to accompany Grant and his friends for the weekend, FBI Special Agent Blaire Toleman stated in the complaint.
"I have spoken to law enforcement agents who have debriefed [the prostitute], who confirmed, among other things, that [she] was engaged to accompany the persons on the trip and that Grant and others took advantage of her services during the trip," Toleman said in the federal complaint.
In August that same year, Rechnitz paid for a $1,000 hotel stay in Rome for Grant's family and friends.
And then on Christmas Day 2013, Reichberg and Rechnitz showed up at Grant's Staten Island home wearing elf hats and gave a video game system to his children and a $1,000 piece of jewelry to his wife, prosecutors said.
In late 2013 or early 2014, the men recommended Grant, who was leading the 72nd Precinct at the time, to be the commanding officer of the 19th Precinct, and was granted the posted in June 2014.
Grant also accepted $6,000 from the men for the installation of new railings outside his home, $6,000 for new windows and $3,000 for a new watch, the complaint states.
In turn, investigators believe Grant provided the business tycoons with police escorts through traffic from the airport when they returned from overseas trips and escorted Rechnitz and his friends past police barricades at parades, the New York City Marathon and a New Year's Eve celebration at Times Square.
Grant also aided both businessmen in their efforts to get a gun licenses from the NYPD, according to the complaint. Both applied for licenses on August 21, 2014. Rechnitz was denied, but Reichberg was granted a gun license in October 2014.
In a phone conversation recorded on a wiretap on January 13, 2015, Grant advised Reichberg to fake an employment letter, falsely stating that Rechnitz was in the diamond business and needed a gun, according to the complaint.
"Just f---ing tell him, whatever way you want to go they're gonna do it, but they have to put something in the folder," Grant said, according to prosecutors.
"He does frequently carry large amounts of diamonds worth, you know, upwards of a million dollars at all times, all days, and that you're authorizing him to be able to carry...a firearm. That's it. Get that letter, get it to me, and I'll have it dropped off."
Then three days later, Grant called Reichberg again, this time complaining that he was not invited to the Las Vegas Super Bowl, and that he hadn't received gifts from "the two elves" on Christmas.
"See you don't love me anymore bro," he said during a wiretapped phone call on January 16, 2015, according to the complaint. "You don't even invite me to the Super Bowl, what the f---."
Between 2012 and 2014, Grant also gave Rechnitz and 15 of his friends "courtesy cards" that they were instructed to present to officers should they be pulled over while driving, prosecutors charge.
In addition, Grant's name got one of Reichberg's associates out of jail for what a deputy inspector based in Brooklyn described as "driving like a f---ing lunatic," the complaint states.
Grant was arrested at his home on Monday for public corruption, conspiracy and bribery charges. He was stripped of his badge and gun in April as a result of the federal probe, and on May 24, he filed for retirement, in an effort, some sources say, to protect his pension. Deputy Inspector Clint McPherson replaced Grant at the helm once he left.
Reichberg and three other NYPD officials were also arrested on Monday, including Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, the former second-in-command in the NYPD's housing bureau; Sgt. David Villanueva, who worked in the department's licensing division, and officer Richard Ochetal, sources and prosecutors said.
The arrests were made by FBI agents and members of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, sources said.
Rechnitz pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit honest services fraud in connection with the wire fraud scheme but is cooperating as a witness for a lesser sentence, the complaint states.
