Greenburgh P.D. Police Officer Fired

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Greenburgh officer involved in dominatrix case fired

By BILL HUGHES

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: February 16, 2007)

GREENBURGH - The police officer accused of having a tryst in the woods with a dominatrix was ordered fired by the Town of Greenburgh's Board of Police Commissioners in a decision released after business hours today.

Erik Ward, who was acquitted of the criminal charge of official misconduct in Town Court in December, was found guilty today of three out of seven departmental charges stemming from his interaction with Gina Pane, a professional dominatrix who was arrested on a marijuana possession charge in January 2006.

The day after her arrest, Ward met Pane at the parking lot of the Doral Arrowwood Resort and Country Club, drove off for about 20 minutes then returned and dropped her off. Ward maintains that he was trying to develop Pane as a confidential informant in order to arrest her marijuana supplier. Pane testified that she and Ward drove off to a secluded spot and that he masturbated while she squatted on a tree branch and defecated to satisfy his sexual fetish.

Ward was found guilty of failing to comply with departmental procedures governing confidential informants, failing to properly report his contact with Pane to his superior officer and conduct which brings discredit upon the department.

Ward, who joined the Police Department in May 2000, has been suspended from his $81,954 per year job since February.