New York state trooper staged his own shooting on Long Island, prosecutors say
NEW YORK -- A New York State Police trooper who claimed he was shot on the job last year on Long Island is now facing charges in the case.
Trooper Thomas Mascia was charged Monday with tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting a crime and official misconduct. His parents, Thomas and Dorothy, were also charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
They turned themselves in to New York State Police headquarters in Farmingdale early Monday.
Mascia, once hailed a police hero, appeared in handcuffs, accused of leading police on a "wild goose chase" in a story prosecutors called a "figment of his imagination."
"The shooter we were all looking for only existed in Mascia's head, in his imagination," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.
Mascia was suspended without pay, and his ID, shield and guns were removed. As far as why he would concoct a story, court documents say he was looking for attention and sympathy.
"This case is a tragedy that was caused by unseen and untreated mental health issues. And now an entire family is suffering for it as they usually do in such situations," Mascia's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said.
Trooper's story called into question
In late October 2024, Mascia told police he saw a car stopped on the Southern State Parkway in West Hempstead. According to his account, when he approached the vehicle, the driver shot him and then sped off.
Mascia was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his leg, and police launched a manhunt for his alleged shooter.
Prosecutors now say he staged the whole thing, dropping shell casings on the parkway, then driving to Hempstead Lake Park, where they say he shot himself in the leg, and then returned to the parkway to report he was shot and described the person who pulled the trigger him as a dark-skinned man.
But prosecutors say his story fell apart with inconsistencies and no body camera video.
"Nine shell casings but no projectiles found at the scene. No tire marks. Not a single video that showed the Dodge Charger he had claimed belong to his shooter ever driving on any road that we had video for," Donnelly said.
Days later, investigators searched the house Mascia shares with his parents, where prosecutors say they found an illegal assault-style gun and $800,000 in cash. Thomas Mascia Sr. is a convicted felon -- a disgraced NYPD cop convicted in the 1990s as part of a cocaine ring.
State police said they saw no red flags in the son's police work, but have theories.
"Whether he sought to get disability, retirement, attention, or unrequited love, those are issues that have come to our attention," Superintendent Steven James said.
CBS News New York learned Mascia also claimed he was injured by a hit-and-run driver in 2022, but that claim was unsubstantiated.
