A Long Island police commissioner sent an underling a cardboard penis, then denied him a promotion, as revenge for the cop reporting the superior’s side hustle at a bagel shop, according to a $10 million lawsuit.
In addition to the fake phallus in a box, Sgt. John Beatty claims Rockville Centre Police Commissioner James Vafeades posted a photo of Beatty’s face on a rat’s body inside the precinct — after he exposed the boss’s unapproved moonlighting, according to the Brooklyn Federal Court papers.
Vafeades was a lieutenant in 2017 when Beatty walked into Wantagh Bagel and spotted him behind the counter, Beatty said in the litigation.
But Vafeades, who plunked down $125,000 for an ownership share of the shop, allegedly didn’t get the extra work approved by the department, Beatty said in the lawsuit.
Vafeades was questioned about the arrangement, but it didn’t stop him from being promoted to the department’s top post in 2018.
Beatty accuses Vafeades and the village of Rockville Centre of whistleblower retaliation and violating his right to engage in protected speech.
Neither Beatty or the department responded to requests for comment.