Ex-Guard at Juvenile Center Gets 5 Months for Shakedown
By Lauren Terrazzano, Staff Writer
Originally published in Newsday, July 16, 2002
A former guard at the Nassau Juvenile Detention Center who shook down parents for "protection money" for their incarcerated son was sentenced yesterday to 5 months in jail and 5 years probation.
Bobby Stewart, 33, of Hempstead, was originally charged with second-degree grand larceny after he was arrested in February. He was sentenced yesterday by Nassau County Judge Donald DeRiggi in Mineola, attorneys said.
Teresa and Eugene Helmett maintained that Stewart demanded money from them each week when they visited their 15-year-old son, Jason, at the Westbury center. The payments spanned a year, they said, and totaled close to $20,000 before the couple notified the district attorney's office, which conducted an undercover operation in February.
Reached yesterday, Teresa Helmett said she was satisfied with the outcome but said she wished he had gotten more jail time.
Last month, Stewart and the district attorney's office entered into a plea bargain in which he would plead to third-degree grand larceny. He also will be on probation for 5 years and will undergo therapy as a condition of his probation, said Rick Hinshaw, a spokesman for the Nassau district attorney's office. He could have received up to 7 years in jail.
Lou Agresta, Stewart's attorney, said his client had no prior convictions and that before the sentencing, he appealed for leniency from the judge based on letters of support from former co-workers, children he had worked with, and family members. "All the paperwork and letters I got from supporters of Bobby Stewart said he was an honorable, hardworking man who loved helping kids get their lives on track," Agresta said.
