By Kevin Deutsch
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A former Yonkers police detective pleaded guilty Friday to perjuring himself in a Bronx narcotics case—a lie that led to an innocent Olinville man serving nearly five months in jail.
Sean Fogarty, 43, a 22-year member of the police force, was granted a conditional discharge, contingent on his retirement, as part of a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors.
He will have a criminal record, authorities said, and permitted to collect his police pension.
The perjury charge stemmed from false testimony Fogarty gave about an April 2018 drug raid he supervised at an Olinville home.
A search warrant permitted Fogarty and his colleagues to search the first and second floors of a home belonging to Calvin Powell, a local tax preparer who had previously done prison time as part of a federal drug case.
The raid uncovered seventeen kilos of cocaine in a third-floor apartment, a space Powell was renting out to tenants. Fogarty knowingly lied about the bust in court, authorities said, testifying under oath that the drugs were found on the second floor.
The lie helped send Powell to Rikers Island, where he missed his father’s funeral. He has filed a lawsuit in federal court.