Albany Sheriff Sounds Off About Cuomo Charge Leaking: ‘Problematic’ That Internet Knew Before He Could Inform Victim

Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple sounded off about Thursday’s chaotic filing of criminal charges filed against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), lamenting how the summons had been immediately leaked to the press before even he knew about it or had been able to discuss it with the DA or victim.

From our report:

Cuomo resigned earlier this year after being accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by multiple women, including former aide Brittany Commisso, whose allegations that Cuomo groped and harassed her apparently form the basis of this Schrödinger’s Cat of a criminal complaint that spent Thursday afternoon existing and then not existing and then existing again.

The charge against Cuomo was for forcible touching, a Class A misdemeanor under state law. New York-based media outlets scrambled for several hours, as the summons was first reported to have been filed in the Albany City Court, then to have been “erroneously” filed, then to have been “prematurely” filed, and finally confirmed to have been filed by a spokesman for the New York State courts.

Friday afternoon, Apple held a press conference to address the media about the confusion and answer questions, and he did not water down his frustration with how everything had unfolded.

Apple began by summarizing his department’s process, describing their work as “a very comprehensive and methodical investigation” over the past nearly four months, reviewing “hundreds of documents, if not thousands,” executing search warrants, and interviewing “numerous witnesses, including our victim.”

“As a result of all of that information, a packet was sent down to Albany City Court for review,” said Apple. “As a result of that review, a criminal summons was issued.”

This is the point where everything diverted from the normal path. Apple explained how the standard procedure was for the information to be dropped off, the court would review it, and then call if they had any questions, so it “normally takes a little bit of time.”

For some reason, however, Cuomo’s case “came back at a relatively accelerated rate” and the summons was issued almost immediately.

“Kind of caught us by surprise as well, and needless to say the document was then released to the media and posted online,” said Apple. “Sometimes in police work with investigations things don’t go how you want them. You have to be ready to pivot and that is exactly what we did.”

Apple added that he would have preferred to have had “a deeper conversation” with the district attorney, to have explained what was happening to Cuomo’s legal counsel, but the document had already been leaked, “so again, things don’t always work out as planned.”

Cuomo was scheduled to appear in the Albany City Court on November 17, Apple noted, “at which time he’ll be processed and presumably released,” as expected for a misdemeanor charge.

His office had had conversations “every day” with the victim, he said in response to a reporter’s question.

Another reporter asked about political and election issues — New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who had led the investigation into then-Gov. Cuomo, had announced she was running for Governor earlier Friday — and Apple shrugged at the question, saying that he wasn’t sure if people were “trying to muddy the water” by calling the summons “an election ploy or something to that effect,” but “we have a solid case,” and he wasn’t concerned about efforts to distract or deflect away from the real investigation.

A follow up question pressed Apple for more information about how the summons was issued and leaked.

“I will say that again, we did not anticipate a quick return like that,” he replied, “nor did we anticipate everything would be posted on the internet. And again, just out of common courtesy, we would have liked to have made some notifications.”

Apple confirmed that a city court judge had issued the criminal summons against Cuomo, “five, ten minutes” after they had filed their documents, which he described as “relatively unusual.”

“Again, the internet knew about it before I even knew about it,” he continued. “I was in my office and I received a phone call and looked on the the internet and it was posted on the internet. So that was problematic. I think it was improper. But again sometimes things don’t go as planned and you have to roll with it and get ready to pivot and move on.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.