New York State Trooper arrested for official misconduct

ALBANY -- The New York State Police have arrested a state trooper for allegedly writing traffic tickets to someone he never stopped.

Trooper Lester Hooper was arrested on nine counts following a joint investigation with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. He was arrested by members of the State Police Internal Affairs Bureau.

The arrest was the culmination of a three month investigation into allegations that Hooper falsely issued five traffic tickets in three different jurisdictions to a subject he never stopped. The investigation revealed that Trooper Hooper issued these tickets to the complainant as retribution for a parking dispute that occurred two days prior to the issuance of the tickets.

Trooper Hooper is being charged in Westchester County with three counts of offering a False Instrument for Filing, a felony; three counts of Issuing a False Certificate, a felony; and three counts of Official Misconduct, a misdemeanor.

He is to be arraigned in the White Plains City Court, and the Harrison and Greenburgh Town Courts, three courts to which Hooper wrote the false summonses.

Hooper joined the State Police in February 2005 and he is assigned to Troop T on the New York State Thruway at Tarrytown, New York. Trooper Hooper was immediately suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the ongoing criminal investigation.