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Managing a brothel is not a typical side gig for a police officer, yet that was the reality for a former Suffolk County officer now facing a two-year prison sentence. This officer, once celebrated as “Cop of the Month,” was sentenced on Monday for his part in running a mob-connected brothel in Holbrook.
George Trimigliozzi, a 56-year-old father of two, had enjoyed a reputation as an outstanding officer during his 18-year tenure with the Suffolk County Police Department. However, his career took a dark turn as he pleaded guilty to charges of promoting prostitution and official misconduct.
In a particularly startling incident in 2021, Trimigliozzi abandoned his police duties to rush to the American Girls Spa, a brothel he helped manage. Prosecutors revealed that he sped to the scene at 90 mph in his patrol car after a robbery was reported there.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney expressed outrage over the breach of trust, stating, “It is particularly egregious when a sworn police officer abandons his duty to participate in criminal activity.”
“It is particularly egregious when a sworn police officer abandons his duty to participate in
criminal activity,” said Ray Tierney, district attorney for Suffolk County, in a statement.
“George Trimigliozzi violated public trust when he chose to manage a brothel instead of upholding the law.”
A years-long probe resulted in the arrests last year of Trimigliozzi and Steven Arey, a nearly three-decade-long employee of the Islip School District, where he worked as a phys ed teacher.
The seemingly straight-laced pair led double lives working as brothel managers for known mafia associate Frank Saggio, who hatched the prostitution scheme in 2019, prosecutors said.
Saggio oversaw a network of brothels — including the American Girls Spa along Sunrise Highway and the Tunnel of Love in West Babylon — for which he demanded sex workers to pay the crooks between $6,000 to $12,000 a month to operate there.
Trimigliozzi, Saggio and the mobster’s girlfriend Dana Ciardullo, 33, who ran the Tunnel of Love, all pleaded guilty to charges in September.
Saggio, under his plea, must pay nearly $1.88 million in restitution. He waits sentencing. Ciardullo’s sentencing is scheduled Dec. 18.
Prosecutors also accused Trimigliozzi in May of sexually abusing a pair of women that he met on dating apps, using his badge to gain their trust.
The sexual abuse and rape charges Trimigliozzi originally faced were dropped when he copped a plea to second-degree unlawful imprisonment.
Arey, who faces an enterprise corruption charge and 27 counts of promoting prostitution, is next expected to appear in court Wednesday.