1 Photo
The Southampton Town Board has yet to take any disciplinary action against code enforcement officer Alfred Tumbarello, who was accused of selling cocaine and prescription drugs last month, although Mr. Tumbarello is on paid personal leave and not currently working with the code enforcement division.
Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said this week that the Town Board is still considering how to address Mr. Tumbarello’s arrest with disciplinary action and has not pressed forward yet because he is effectively off the job anyway.
“We are still trying to figure out how to deal with Mr. Tumbarello,” she said. “We are awaiting his official return before we take action. I’m not sure we can take any action until he’s returned, but the topic is under discussion right now.”
Councilman Chris Nuzzi declined to comment on Mr. Tumbarello’s situation other than to note that he is not currently on the job.
Last week, Ms. Throne-Holst said that Mr. Tumbarello would be placed on administrative leave while the charges were adjudicated, but that designation has not yet been put in effect.
Mr. Tumbarello was arrested by officers of the Suffolk County East End Drug Task Force on April 18, and charged with three counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree, all felonies, following a months-long investigation, during which Mr. Tumbarello sold narcotics to undercover officers in Westhampton Beach on multiple occasions, investigators said.
Mr. Tumbarello had also been arrested on misdemeanor charges of drug possession in 2002, after Southampton Village Police officers said they found him snorting cocaine in a parked car.
Town Attorney Tiffany Scarlato said that Mr. Tumbarello would only have been required to disclose the earlier arrest on his applications for any of the various jobs he’s held at the town—including groundskeeper, ordinance enforcer and his current code enforcement position—if he had been convicted. She said that his court record on that charge is sealed, an indication that the case was dismissed or adjourned, and would therefore not have to be disclosed when he was hired.
A copy of his original job application to the town, obtained by The Press through a Freedom of Information Law request, indeed shows that he checked “no” when asked if he had ever been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor. The application also said that he has never been dismissed or discharged or resigned from any position rather than face dismissal for any reasons other than lack of work or funds on the part of the employer.
In 2004, Mr. Tumbarello had applied to be a Southampton Town Police officer but was disqualified after Suffolk County Police did a background check and discovered his arrest record.
on May 9, 2012