Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's legal team has called for an investigation into Sheriff Craig Apple Sr - Albany County's cigar-loving top cop who in October charged the Democrat with a sex crime without consulting the district attorney.
Apple, 54, a Democrat with a progressive record, has come under sharp scrutiny by both Cuomo's camp, which has accused him of colluding with state Attorney General Letitia James to bolster her gubernatorial ambitions, and also by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who has alleged that the popular sheriff had engaged in 'troubling' investigative methods and concealed potentially 'exculpatory' evidence.
Apple, dismissively dubbed the 'cowboy sheriff' by Cuomo and his cohorts,' has denied any wrongdoing, even after the ex-governor and his aides have dredged up a 10-year-old recording of the sheriff saying, 'I know how to manipulate the law and I’ve gotten pretty good at it.'
Apple also bristled at what he described as an 'unfair' claim that he had 'boxed in' Soares by filing the complaint against Cuomo without the prosecutor's input in an apparent bid to force his hand.
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Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple Sr (left) has found himself under scrutiny after filing a sex crime charge against former New York Gov Andrew Cuomo (right)
Cuomo, who resigned in August amid a sex scandal, was accused by his former aide Brittany Commisso (left) of groping her breast last year
Speaking to The New York Times, Apple said of Soares: 'Listen, he’s the district attorney, he can do whatever he needs to do on this case. I mean, it’s totally up to him. It’s his prerogative.'
In late October, Sheriff Apple made national headlines when he filed a complaint charging Cuomo, 64, with committing a misdemeanor sex crime involving his former aide, 33-year-old Brittany Commisso.
The complaint accused Cuomo of forcible touching by putting his hand under Commisso's shirt and groping her breast in the Executive Mansion on December 7, 2020.
Cuomo was due in court on November 17, but DA Soares asked a judge for more time to evaluates the evidence, saying the complaint filed by Apple was 'potentially defective.'
Soares, who has said he was caught off guard by the filing, said in a letter to Judge Holly Trexler that his office had been investigating the matter for several months when Apple 'unilaterally and inexplicably' filed the complaint against Cuomo.
Cuomo's camp has accused Apple of colluding with state AG Letitia James to bolster her gubernatorial ambitions. The two posed for a pictured together in early October
Soares alleged that the complaint failed to include a sworn statement by Commisso.
The district attorney said the sheriff’s complaint, as filed, only included part of the woman’s testimony, but left other parts out, including sections that could possibly be helpful to Cuomo’s defense.
Apple pushed back against Soares' claims, insisting that his investigator who filed the paperwork submitted all the necessary documents in full.
Apple did
