The New York Post by Jeane Macintosh and Doug Auer - February 5, 2011
The former top attorney with the Administration for Children’s Services on Staten Island — who was once embroiled in an Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal — pranked a former college associate, posting her photo and personal information on a lesbian-dating Web site, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. Sometime between May 1 and July 19, James O’Hare, 51, used the computer at his Queens office, as well as those in his Rosebank home, to upload pictures and contact data of the 54-year-old victim, according to the sources and court papers. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, O’Hare attended St. John’s University with the victim — a cute, blonde, married mother of three kids — but it’s unknown what sparked his mean antics, sources said. The victim, whose husband is a prominent lawyer and whose deceased father was a well-respected supervising judge, became concerned when women started calling her seeking dates, sources added. "One day she’s getting calls from lesbians and she was like, ‘What the heck?’ " said one source. The victim contacted authorities and investigators used the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to trace the Internet tomfoolery back to O’Hare’s AOL and Hotmail accounts, according to court papers. O’Hare was arrested on Jan. 24. and charged with aggravated harassment and criminal impersonation. He was released without bail following his Jan. 25 arraignment. During the proceeding, anorder of protection was issued barring O’Hare from contacting the victim. O’Hare once handled the custody placement of the two young daughters left fatherless after their mother, Janet Mercereau, shot her Fire-marshal husband, Douglas, three times in the head in their Oakwood home in December 2007. Mercereau was convicted of murder and sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life. O’Hare was later transferred to a Queens ACS office, records show. Since his arrest, the suspect has been suspended without pay, an ACS spokesman said. O’Hare first made headlines in 2004 when his name surfaced in a probe of prisoner abuse at the infamous Abu Ghraib military jail in Baghdad, where detainees underwent horrific torture. At that time, he was a lieutenant colonel and judge advocate for the Long-Island based 800th Military Police Brigade when the unit was assigned to the prison under Gen. Janis Karpinski. A report about the unit’s abuses lambasted O’Hare saying he "appears to lack initiative and was unwilling to accept responsibility for any of his actions." Responding to the scathing report, O’Hare said at the time he was "proud of his service." He did not return calls yesterday.
The former top attorney with the Administration for Children’s Services on Staten Island — who was once embroiled in an Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal — pranked a former college associate, posting her photo and personal information on a lesbian-dating Web site, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. Sometime between May 1 and July 19, James O’Hare, 51, used the computer at his Queens office, as well as those in his Rosebank home, to upload pictures and contact data of the 54-year-old victim, according to the sources and court papers. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, O’Hare attended St. John’s University with the victim — a cute, blonde, married mother of three kids — but it’s unknown what sparked his mean antics, sources said. The victim, whose husband is a prominent lawyer and whose deceased father was a well-respected supervising judge, became concerned when women started calling her seeking dates, sources added. "One day she’s getting calls from lesbians and she was like, ‘What the heck?’ " said one source. The victim contacted authorities and investigators used the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to trace the Internet tomfoolery back to O’Hare’s AOL and Hotmail accounts, according to court papers. O’Hare was arrested on Jan. 24. and charged with aggravated harassment and criminal impersonation. He was released without bail following his Jan. 25 arraignment. During the proceeding, anorder of protection was issued barring O’Hare from contacting the victim. O’Hare once handled the custody placement of the two young daughters left fatherless after their mother, Janet Mercereau, shot her Fire-marshal husband, Douglas, three times in the head in their Oakwood home in December 2007. Mercereau was convicted of murder and sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life. O’Hare was later transferred to a Queens ACS office, records show. Since his arrest, the suspect has been suspended without pay, an ACS spokesman said. O’Hare first made headlines in 2004 when his name surfaced in a probe of prisoner abuse at the infamous Abu Ghraib military jail in Baghdad, where detainees underwent horrific torture. At that time, he was a lieutenant colonel and judge advocate for the Long-Island based 800th Military Police Brigade when the unit was assigned to the prison under Gen. Janis Karpinski. A report about the unit’s abuses lambasted O’Hare saying he "appears to lack initiative and was unwilling to accept responsibility for any of his actions." Responding to the scathing report, O’Hare said at the time he was "proud of his service." He did not return calls yesterday.
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3 comments:
What a nice lawyer! Glad they are held in such high regard in our society..... NOT !
Another fine example of ethical behavior by an attorney...
Take his ability to practice away forever. Then put him in JAIL.
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