NYPD Officer Bilked Accident Victims He Stalked On Computers

A New York City inspector posed as a lawyer and sold his bogus legal services to car accident victims that he found through scraping NYPD computers and installing surveillance video in a police station.  

Yehuda Katz, 45, of Brooklyn, who was assigned as an auxiliary deputy inspector at the 70th Precinct, allegedly placed electronic devices and video cameras to illegally access NYPD computers to glean personal information on about 6,400 car accident victims.

He, then allegedly used the information to masquerade as an attorney and solicit business from the victims with promises that he was certain about settling their cases in return for a 14 percent cut.

Katz has been an auxiliary officer since 1997 and was suspended pending termination.  Auxiliary cops are volunteers who help the department on traffic and crowd control. They don't carry guns but have batons and police radios.

The numerous devices planted in the precinct's traffic safety office allowed him to access the department computers' law enforcement databases. As an auxiliary, Katz had no authority to access the computers. He also allegedly placed a small video camera in the office to monitor activity.

He posed as an attorney with the firm of "Katz & Katz, PC," and told victims in a letter "I can advise you with 100 percent confidence that I can resolve this claim in your favor.”

Police discovered the electronic devices and camera last summer.

It’s unclear if any accident victims used Katz's services, though court papers say that 65 victims called a telephone number used by Katz.

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