A Mount Vernon police officer who was suspended last week following his arrest on charges he set up a fake business to steal $800,000 meant for an Alabama company is now facing federal charges.
Brandon Hunter-Carney was arrested by federal agents on Friday, April 17, at an airport as he was trying to leave the country, his lawyer in the Westchester case confirmed to The Journal News/lohud.
The lawyer, John Dechiaro, said his understanding was that Hunter-Carney, who was due back in Mount Vernon City Court in mid May, was going on vacation. Dechiaro did not know what new charges Hunter-Carney faced and said he would not be representing him in any federal prosecution.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he had no information to provide.
Hunter-Carney was arrested April 8 by investigators from the Westchester District Attorney’s Office on grand larceny and possession of stolen property charges. Three years ago, before he joined the Mount Vernon Police Department, he allegedly created a company called Electric Controls and Systems Inc. and a bank account for the company and deposited a stolen check for $800,160 that a New Jersey company had made out to an actual company in Alabama called Electric Controls and Systems Inc.
The charges were not bail eligible and there were no restrictions on his travel or conditions on his release, other than that he make his court appearances.
A spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on any potential federal charges or how they might impact the state case against the officer.
Hunter-Carney was a patrol officer since his hiring in Mount Vernon in 2024. Last summer, he took part in a dramatic rescue of several residents from a house that caught on fire on North MacQuesten Parkway.
He is one of three Mount Vernon cops arrested over the past two months, all in unrelated cases.
Officer Frank Lucadamo is facing a stalking charge in Florida after he allegedly sent multiple harassing messages to a retired colleague there.
Newly promoted Detective Kyren Braunskill was charged in Suffolk County in a sweeping indictment of members and associates of a Riverhead, NY gang. He is charged with conspiracy for allegedly providing guns to the gang during the two years between his firing as a state corrections officer and his hiring by Mount Vernon in December 2022.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon cop arrested a second time, this time by feds
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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