SULLIVAN COUNTY — On February 21 Jim Sebastian of the online news outlet Mid-Hudson News released an article entitled “Audio Recording of Monticello Mayor Sheds Light on Plan to Leverage Police Jobs for Votes.” Prior to releasing this article, Sebastian contacted District Attorney Brian Conaty for comment and was informed that he was unable to speak at the moment but would call back shortly to comment. Sebastian, undeterred and irresponsibly, released the article anyway. The following is DA Conaty’s response to provide context to this article:

“Earlier this year credible information was obtained by the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office relative to the criminal misconduct of public officials in the Village of Monticello. Pursuant to my obligations and duties to the public I instituted an investigation to uncover the veracity of these allegations. In this vein, the District Attorney’s Office enlisted the assistance of Village of Monticello Mayor George Nikolados as a cooperating witness, among others. At the time this audio recording was taped Nikolados was acting in this capacity. To be clear, the statements and actions of Nikolados as contained in the audio recording are neither criminal nor nefarious. Simply put, Nikolados was gathering intelligence for the District Attorney’s ongoing investigation and the public release of said audio recording was taken out of the larger context. It is not in the ordinary course of business of the District Attorney’s Office to comment on ongoing investigations nor reveal cooperating witnesses. However, because of irresponsible reporting the public interest demanded the release of this information and the compromising of an ongoing investigation.”