Inspector Who Was To Clean Up NYPD Licensing Division Abruptly Quits
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In a new twist in the NYPD corruption scandal, a top official who was brought in to clean up the gun licensing division has suddenly quit.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, Inspector Terence Moore was appointed just two weeks ago to run the Firearm Licensing Division.
But now, Moore has decided to retire. The man who was supposed to clean things up is now headed out -- apparently because he simply didn't want the job.
The licensing division of the NYPD is at the center of one of the corruption investigations.
One man, Alex "Shaya" Lichtenstein, was recently charged with bribing police to give him gun permits without background checks, which he would allegedly sell for a large profit.
A criminal complaint said Lichtenstein offered police $6,000 for each license, which he would then allegedly resell for $18,000.
In light of the scandal, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton just appointed Inspector Moore, a 31-year veteran, to put things back in order. It was a job as a source put it, "that he couldn't refuse."
Moore was hand-picked because of his Internal Affairs Bureau experience.
But on Friday, Moore handed in his retirement papers, saying he didn't want to deal with the long hours or responsibility.
Moore is not under any kind of investigation. He apparently just wanted out.
He had actually retired once before only to return.
Now, the police commissioner has to make a new choice for the job as the investigation continues.
"I anticipate that there will be additional visits; additional questioning going on as the investigation goes forward," Bratton said. "I think we got a pretty good sense of the scope, scale, size of it, and the activities contained within it."
Meanwhile, funeral services will be held this week for Inspector Michael Ameri, who committed suicide last week. Ameri, 44, was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car in West Babylon, police said.
Bratton said Ameri was interviewed twice by the authorities, the last time nearly two months ago.
"At the time of the death, he was not the target of our investigation," Bratton said.
It is not clear who will fill Moore's shoes at the licensing division. A new commander will take over for the next phase of the investigation.
Bratton once again defended himself over his handling of the investigation.
