Bill de Blasio’s security chief Howard Redmond pleads guilty
Howard Redmond, the disgraced NYPD inspector who headed former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s security department, pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstruction and tampering for interfering in a city investigation into his former boss.
Redmond, 58, was sentenced to 70 hours of community service in Manhattan Criminal Court after he turned himself in earlier in the day for blocking an investigation by the city’s Department of Investigations into the former mayor’s alleged misuse of his security credentials during his unworldly 2020 presidential bid .
“I would like to apologize to the Department of Investigation for not taking your investigation seriously,” Redmond told Judge Laurie Peterson during his arraignment.
The disgraced police officer – who was suspended from the NYPD last month before being fired – pleaded guilty to two counts: tampering with evidence, obstruction of government administration and official misconduct.
Peterson handed down the sentence on condition that Redmond show the court evidence that he was convicted by the NYPD.
Manhattan prosecutors have been considering criminal charges against Redmond since 2021 after the city’s Department of Investigations found that he “actively obstructed and attempted to thwart” investigations into de Blasio’s expenses.
The veteran police officer was suspended without pay from the NYPD on July 11, pending charges hanging over him.
He was later “released” from the department, police said on Wednesday, without giving further details.
According to a 49-page report released in October 2021, the NYPD paid $319,794 for department security to accompany de Blasio on his campaign tour of the country — including to attend a game of the to participate in the Red Sox.
Former DOI commissioner Margaret Garnett said at the time that the mayor’s son, Dante de Blasio, even used his father’s security service as a “concierge service.”
Commando members “occasionally” also chauffeured de Blasio’s campaign staff.
Redmond, who headed the then-mayor’s department, was the only person in the investigation referred by the DOI to potential criminal charges to prosecutors, who found he was “actively obstructing and attempting to thwart” the investigation.
The DOI said Redmond refused to give up his cellphone for months and only did so after a supervisor ordered him to do so.
According to the DOI report, he allegedly first destroyed the phone “under the pretense of obtaining an improved device.”
The report also accused the head of the Executive Protection Unit of ordering subordinates “to bar the NYPD from access to EPU communications.”
“DOI has concluded that the NYPD inspector in charge of First Family Security actively obstructed and attempted to thwart these investigations, frustrating DOI’s efforts to obtain the full facts of these allegations “, says the report.
Redmond turned himself in at the courthouse just after 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was wearing a dark suit and blue patterned tie and was accompanied by his attorney, Louis La Pietra.
He was charged later in the day.
De Blasio could not be immediately reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
