PORT AUTHORITY POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF MAKING A FALSE REPORT AND RACIALLY INSENSITIVE TELEPHONE CALLS TO A PORT AUTHORITY POLICE COMMAND DESK

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a Port Authority Police Officer has been convicted of making a false report and racially insensitive telephone calls to a police command desk at the Port Authority.

Elias Langguth was found guilty on one count of Falsely Reporting an Incident in the 3rd degree, and two counts of Aggravated Harassment in the 2nd degree. All three charges are Class A misdemeanor offenses punishable by a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail on each count. Langguth was convicted by State Supreme Court Justice Dennis Boyle following a non-jury trial. Justice Boyle set sentencing for January 30, 2008 in Part T4.

The crimes occurred during the early morning hours of October 10, 2005 when Langguth, a 35-year-old Bronx resident of German and Irish ancestry, made several personal calls from his cell phone to a Port Authority Police Command Desk. The judge heard testimony that the defendant placed the calls beginning shortly after 1:00 AM and ended the last call at 2:49 AM. Langguth claimed in the initial call to Port Authority Police that someone at the Grove Street PATH train station had just touched him inappropriately against his will. The evidence showed that Langguth had placed the call from the Fiddler’s Elbow Bar and Grill on East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx. Langguth, in subsequent calls to the Port Authority Police Command Desk, engaged in a series of racially insensitive attacks against people of Greek, Irish, Italian, and African-American ancestry, and biased remarks about gay people as well. The defendant’s anti African-American slurs included comments about a fellow Port Authority Police Officer who had been killed in a motorcycle accident while off duty. The deceased African-American officer, whom Langguth referred to as a “dead ( expletive) monkey”, had not yet been buried when the slurs were made.

The case is being prosecuted by Supervising Assistant District Attorney James Goward and Assistant District Attorney Robert Caliendo of the Rackets Bureau.