Tendy Tangled in Alleged Interference of Fiancée’s 2009 DWI Case
Editor’s note: Because the article focuses on the alleged actions of a Putnam DA candidate, who is a public figure, and not his fiancée, who is a private citizen, The Putnam Examiner decided against using her name in this article.
Since Bob Tendy has kicked off his campaign for Putnam County District Attorney, the current Putnam Valley Supervisor and criminal defense attorney has attacked incumbent DA Adam Levy over his alleged involvement in the past rape case of a former personal trainer.
But now Tendy, who has vowed to bring integrity back to the DA’s office, is fighting off his own accusations of unethical behavior stemming back to his alleged interference of his fiancée’s misdemeanor drunken driving arrest, as detailed in a Putnam County Sheriff ’s Office memo.
According to an interoffice memo written by Undersheriff Peter Convery, obtained by The Putnam Examiner in a Freedom of Information Request through the District Attorney’s Office, Tendy requested Convery not have the arresting deputy appear at a refusal hearing of his fiancée, who was arrested for a DWI earlier that year.
“Attorney Tendy requested of me to not have Deputy Monroe attend the refusal hearing,” Convery wrote. “I immediately refused his demand, telling him no!”
The meeting between Tendy and Convery was on Nov. 13, 2009 and started out with the two discussing a Roaring Brook subdivision matter and the summer town beach problems. Soon, according to the memo, the conversation veered the DWI arrest of his fiancée.
The conversation between Tendy and Convery was important enough that Sheriff Don Smith emailed Levy on Nov. 17, 2009 to bring that memo to his attention.
“I believe the interoffice memorandum from Undersheriff Peter Convery and the detailed Complaint Arrest Affidavit report by Deputy Sheriff Matthew Monroe will provide all the information you and your staff will need to insure proper preparation for the refusal hearing,” Smith wrote.
Washington College of Law at American University professor Elizabeth Boals, who is neither familiar with Levy or Tendy, said after reviewing the memo, Tendy’s actions are “inappropriate, if that’s what happened” and “at the very least, have the appearance of impropriety.”
“If he was saying to the (under)sheriff, ‘hey, (under)sheriff, direct your deputy not to show up,’ then that would be inappropriate,” Boals said. “That would be trying to impact the ability of the state to prove its case and that would be inappropriate.”
His fiancée won the refusal hearing, but eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving in 2013. Tendy, in an email, refuted Convery’s memo and said he never requested that the deputy not show up to the refusal hearing.
“The Undersheriff misunderstood me,” Tendy said. “I went to his office to report what I considered to be the unprofessional conduct of one of his deputies. I told him that he should talk to him about it.”
Tendy said he was a witness to the incident surrounding the alleged DWI and argues his fiancée wasn’t drunk, but severely injured from her car crashing. She called Tendy for help after the crash and when he arrived, he said her car was totaled after it hydroplaned on a “very wet rainy night.” Tendy was also upset that the deputy never took her to the hospital after the crash, according to Convery’s memo.
Rather than go to a hospital, Deputy Monroe took the fiancée to county lockup for the night and she had visible injuries, Tendy said, the next day in court.
The sheriff’s office, according to The Journal News, stands by Convery’s memo with Sheriff Don Smith stating, “I strive each and every day to do my duty in a way that is proper, lawful, ethical and true to my Oath of Office, and the Sheriff’s Office has met those goals in this case.”
In a recent statement to The Putnam Examiner since the news of the 2009 incident broke, Levy stated Tendy “needs to accept personal accountability for his unethical conduct.”
“Rather than admitting poor judgment in using his public office to try to influence the prosecution of a DWI, Tendy instead manufactured a misconduct complaint, disparaging the work of a well-regarded veteran of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department,” Levy stated. “Incredulously, he even took issue with the DA’s proper maintenance of case files. The only person who has tried to make this a story about his fiancée is Bob Tendy.”
The Complaint Arrest Affidavit reports Tendy’s fiancée attempted to use her relationship with Tendy to avoid trouble. The report states when the deputy attempted to administer the DWI refusal warnings for a second time and asked the defendant if she would submit a chemical test, she said, “I’m done. No! I’m done. You’ll see! Ha, do this to the fiancé of the Town of Putnam Valley Supervisor?”
The sheriff’s report also states Tendy’s fiancée smelled of alcohol and filed field sobriety tests. Tendy noted that the case is more than 6-years-old and is only being brought to attention now because “Levy will stop at nothing to smear anyone in his quest to run unopposed and remain D.A.”
“He is a spoiled little rich kid,” Tendy went on to state. “And I will not be intimidated by his reality show antics.”
Levy, who has been under attack, most notably from Tendy, for more than two years because of his alleged interference in the Alexandru Hossu rape case, panned Tendy in an earlier statement provided by his campaign.
“It’s incredibly troubling and disappointing that someone who wants to be our top law enforcement official would violate his oaths and obligations as a public official and as an officer of the court, in an attempt to help his fiancée avoid prosecution for DWI,” Levy stated. “Bob Tendy’s unethical behavior is unacceptable for any public official, and certainly unbecoming of someone who wants to be District Attorney. It’s sadly reflective of a long pattern of Mr. Tendy abusing his office for his own self-interests.”
