Former Ramapo Police Officer Found Guilty of Stalking His Estranged Wife

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that former Ramapo Police Officer JAMES CURLEY was found guilty yesterday of two counts of Stalking and one count of Interstate Violation of a Protection Order, following an eight-day jury trial before United States District Judge STEPHEN C. ROBINSON in White Plains, New York.

The evidence at trial showed that:

Throughout the summer of 2006, JAMES CURLEY threatened and harassed his estranged wife, telling her on numerous occasions that he was going to kill her.  On one occasion, he told her that he was going to kill her and leave her body lying in a pool of blood; on another, he told her that he found a place where he could kill her and no one would hear her scream.  CURLEY also followed his estranged wife during the summer and early fall of 2006, eventually using a Global Positioning System device planted on his estranged wife’s car to track her in New Jersey and elsewhere.  In particular, on October 9, 2006, CURLEY traveled from New York to Emerson, New Jersey, and surveilled the area where the GPS device was located, causing his estranged wife substantial emotional distress.  JAMES CURLEY’s conduct on October 9, 2006 also constituted a violation of an Order of Protection issued by the Rockland County Family Court on October 5, 2006.  That Order of Protection prohibited JAMES CURLEY from, among other things, stalking or harassing his estranged wife.

JAMES CURLEY, 44 of Suffern, New York, was found guilty yesterday on all three counts charged in the Indictment—two counts of Stalking and one count of Interstate Violation of a Protection Order.  At sentencing, JAMES CURLEY faces a potential total maximum term of 15 years on the three counts on which he was found guilty.  JAMES CURLEY is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge STEPHEN C. ROBINSON on June 25, 2009.

Mr. DASSIN praised the work and assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Town of Ramapo Police Department, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ramsey, New Milford, and Emerson Police Departments in New Jersey.

Assistant United States Attorneys KATHRYN M. MARTIN and MARCIA S. COHEN are in charge of the prosecution.

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