Former Nassau Cop Convicted on Charges Stemming from 2009 Kennedy Burglary

A Nassau County jury has convicted former Nassau County Deputy Police Commissioner William Flanagan on two counts of official misconduct in connection with his role preventing the arrest of a Merrick teenager whose father was a personal friend and financial benefactor of the police.

According to the Nassau County District Attorney's office, Judge Mark Cohen accepted the partial verdict at 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening. The jury continued deliberations until 9 p.m. on the remaining two counts of receiving reward for official misconduct, a Class E felony, and conspiracy in the sixth degree.

The jury will resume deliberations Friday morning.

Flanagan, 54, of Islip, was a former second deputy commissioner with the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) before his March 2012 indictment. He resigned from his position on Feb. 29 of that year.

Also indicted were former Deputy Chief Inspector John Hunter, 59, of Oyster Bay, and Detective Sergeant Alan Sharpe, 54, of Huntington Station. Hunter resigned on Feb. 29, 2012, and Sharpe retired on Jan. 5, 2012.

According to multiple reports, Merrick resident and former Kennedy student Zachary Parker, now 21, was charged with stealing more than $3,000 worth of computers after he allegedly broke into Kennedy High School in 2009.

Flanagan, Hunter and Sharpe were indicted by a grand jury on charges that they conspired to and intentionally prevented the arrest of Parker.

The Long Island Press, which first reported the story in March 2011, says that Parker's father, Gary, is a business associate of a group called the Nassau Police Department Foundation, which says on its website that it was founded to help fund a new police academy.