Correction Commissioner Louis Molina ordered the suspension of a correction captain working for a city anti-corruption agency for not signing in at a jail, the Daily News has learned.
Molina’s Friday decision to suspend Captain Lawrence Bond — who has been working as an investigator on loan to the city Department of Investigation for years — was confirmed in a teletype sent out Monday and obtained by The News.
The move is controversial as investigators are not required to sign in at the jails because general knowledge of their mere presence can reveal confidential investigations.
DOI spokeswoman Diane Struzzi declined to comment.
Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains Association, which represents Bond, said he had yet to speak to the captain about the suspension. “When he receives charges, we will be defending him,” he said.
DOC Directive 7000R, which dates back to 1979, states investigators “shall have immediate and unrestricted access to all DOC facilities.”
“This right to immediate access cannot be restricted for any reason and failure to provide immediate access is cause for disciplinary action,” the directive states.
The Correction Department press office did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Sarena Townsend, the former deputy commissioner for trials and investigations said the move was another in a series of “systematic” efforts to block oversight.
“[Molina] wants to control whatever information is coming out of the department and into the public arena, and he will stop at nothing to do it,” said Townsend, now a lawyer in private practice. “I’ve never seen a DOI investigator suspended for doing their job. He’s sending a message.”
On Tuesday, a correction source said Bond may have been in the facility to give an anti-corruption lecture and declined to sign the logbook because of his role with DOI.
Molina had meetings at DOI on Friday and also spoke with the FBI, the sources said. Neither DOI nor DOC would…
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