PARK SLOPE — The Brooklyn community board manager who was arrested twice on charges he stalked an ex-girlfriend will stay in his job while the city's Law Department reviews the situation, the group's chairman said at Wednesday night's board meeting.
Longtime Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman — who was arrested twice in early April, once on a stalking charge and once for violating a court order of protection — made his usual announcements about community news at Wednesday night's meeting, but didn't address his recent run-ins with the law, Patch first reported.
Community Board 6 chair Sayar Lonial announced at the meeting that he's asked the city's Law Department to provide "legal guidance" on the matter and asked board members to form a committee to look into the situation, Patch reported.
"I think we all saw or read or heard about the article involving our district manager this past Monday," Lonial said at Wednesday's meeting, according to Patch. "I want to stress that we must respect the legal process, and that states that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty."
Hammerman has worked for Community Board 6 since 1990 and makes $112,000 a year.
Several Community Board 6 members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told DNAinfo New York that Hammerman never informed the board about the recent arrests or about a 2016 arrest for a case that was later dismissed.
The 2016 case is sealed and police could not provide information about the date, location or circumstances of the arrest, an NYPD spokesman said. Those court records, obtained by DNAinfo New York, show Hammerman was arrested in Manhattan in January 2016 after he was accused of harassing the same woman involved in the recent arrests.
The 2016 case was dropped after the victim decided she didn't want to prosecute, Hammerman's attorney, Joyce David, told DNAinfo New York on Wednesday. David said it was "inappropriate" for police to reveal the existence of the 2016 arrest because the case was dismissed and sealed.
It wasn't immediately clear whether district managers are legally required to inform boards if they're arrested. The city's Law Department declined to comment on that question and so did the city's Department of Investigation.
"I'm incredibly proud of the work of our Community Board and have been honored to serve it for the past 27 years," Hammerman said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "My employment status at this time is unchanged."
Of the recent arrests, Hammerman said in an email, "I deny these charges and expect to be vindicated."
Prosecutors say Hammerman hacked into the victim's Uber account to track her to a Bed-Stuy hotel on April 2. Hammerman stood outside the hotel's restaurant peering in through a window at the victim while she ate breakfast, then ran away when the victim spotted him, according to a criminal complaint.
Community boards — volunteer panels that advise city lawmakers on local issues — hire their district managers as paid city employees. District managers preside over board meetings, handle neighborhood complaints and advocate for the district. District managers serve at the pleasure of the board, according to the city charter.
A spokesman for Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who appoints half the community board members, called the allegations against Hammerman "troubling."
"We are monitoring the progress of this open investigation," Borough President spokesman Stefan Ringel said.
