Robert Friedlander Incompetent Or Asleep?

Is Mayor Robert Friedlander incompetent or asleep at wheel? Earlier this week we were notified about the Village of Whitesboro giving away fire apparatus and equipment, land, and buildings in a move which may cost taxpayers.

After that story was published we were contacted by two women in the Village of Whitesboro who stated Friedlander’s actions on the fire service were just the beginning. They noted that he has mismanaged the village including not only fire issues, but police protection.

Mayor Robert Friedlander Incompetent?

In December 2021, a Whitesboro police officer was for allegedly surveilling and pulling over a woman without cause.

Officer Thomas Scarafile, 25, was charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said Wednesday. He was indicted by an Oneida County grand jury and arraigned in county court in December 2021.

Reports allege that while on duty, Scarafile surveilled a waitress in Whitesboro after the two stopped dating.

“He basically started to watch her work,” he said.

Scarafile then pulled her over in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 2021, on Westmoreland Road in Whitesboro, after which he called in the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office due to the conflict of interest.

“He acted like he didn’t know who he was pulling over,” McNamara said, adding that didn’t match evidence showing he was aware of who was in the car.

The woman was arrested for driving while intoxicated, but the charges were dismissed due to the arrest being without probable cause, McNamara said. He said his office began investigating the incident shortly after the arrest, after receiving anonymous emails about a Whitesboro police officer.

“We don’t believe there was any unauthorized surveillance, whatever that means,” Scarafile’s attorney Kurt Hameline said Wednesday. “He made a legitimate traffic stop.”

Whitesboro Mayor Robert Friedlander provided Scarafile, a full-time officer with the village, with paid leave.

The women who contacted us say this mayor does not pay attention to details and makes poor hiring decisions.

One said, “we should be questioning his judgement when he hires police officers more interested in their personal love life than public safety.”

The woman who’d been pulled over filed a notice of claim against the village and Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, potentially costing the taxpayers of Whitesboro more for the “mayor’s lack of  basic human resources skills.”

The Whitesboro residents asked not to be identified for their comments for fear of retaliation by Mayor Friedlander.