Ex-State Trooper Admits He Faked His Own Shooting

A former New York state trooper pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he shot himself then falsely claimed he was wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway, prompting a regionwide search. Thomas Mascia agreed to serve six months in jail, followed by five years probation and continued mental health treatment as he formally changed his not guilty plea during a court appearance in Nassau County court in Mineola, per the AP. He also agreed, as part of his plea deal, to pay $289,000 in restitution for the overtime costs for officers during the three-day search for a nonexistent suspect. The 27-year-old West Hempstead resident had been charged with official misconduct, tampering with evidence, and falsifying documents.

He became a trooper in 2019 and resigned in January after being suspended without pay while state police launched a criminal investigation into the shooting. Mascia's parents, Dorothy and Thomas, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing an illegal firearm, which was found during a search of the family's home. They're scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20. Mascia claimed he was shot in the leg on Oct. 30 by a driver parked on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway, about a mile from his home. Instead, prosecutors say, he staged the scene of the alleged shooting by scattering shell casings, then shot himself at a park, stashed the .22-caliber rifle, drove back to the highway and called for backup.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said after Wednesday's hearing that "one of the most disturbing parts" of the case was that he intentionally set in motion a potentially dangerous search. Mascia described the fictitious driver as a "dark-skinned" man wearing a balaclava that exposed only his eyes. He also claimed the suspect fled in a car bearing temporary New Jersey plates heading toward New York City. "If someone had been stopped that fit the description? Who knows what would have happened?" the district attorney said. Donnelly said the ruse was an apparent bid to gain sympathy from a former girlfriend and that state police are also looking into an accident Mascia was involved in while serving as a trooper upstate. (More New York stories.)