Woman Claims Sexual Assualt At FDNY Firehouse

[WAS967 97]

http://www.wnbc.com/news/3670786/detail.html

Woman Claims Gang-Rape At FDNY Firehouse

NEW YORK -- A Bronx firehouse became a crime scene on Friday as

investigators looked into claims by a woman that she was raped by a group of

firefighters.

Two firefighters have been suspended, and everyone who was on duty from the

battalion chief down has been questioned in the investigation.

Some investigators say the sex may have been consensual between the woman

and as many as three different on-duty firefighters.

According to investigators, the woman and a firefighter had been having

phone sex and Internet chats for months. Last night, she apparently called

the firefighter from a New Jersey bar, saying she was lonely.

Investigators say she was apparently invited over and escorted inside.

Officials say it was inside the firehouse of Engine 75 Ladder 33 where the

woman had sex with one on-duty firefighter and perhaps others.

When the woman returned home to Staten Island, she told her mother she had

been gang-raped, prompting the mother to call 911.

Her rape account is now being discounted by many investigators, but at a

minimum, officials are saying the firefighters apparently took sexual

advantage of a troubled woman with a mental history.

The FDNY issued a statement discussing these "very serious allegations," and

saying they are working with all authorities to "aggressively investigate

these claims."

Local resident Jason Carrion said those involved "shouldn't be suspended,

they should be fired."

[WAS967 97]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/21/nyregion/21fire.html

August 21, 2004

2 Veteran Bronx Firefighters Suspended After Sex Accusation

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Two veteran firefighters were suspended without pay yesterday after they

admitted having had sex with a woman in their Bronx firehouse while on duty,

Fire Department officials said. Nine other firefighters and three

supervisors were assigned to administrative duties as a result of the

matter.

The suspensions came in the latest and perhaps most lurid controversy in a

department that has seemed to be lurching from scandal to scandal in recent

months. The two firefighters acknowledged having sex with the 34-year-old

woman when she visited one of them early yesterday at the firehouse on

Walton Avenue in University Heights, police and fire officials said.

The woman, who had met one of the firefighters on the Internet, returned to

her Staten Island home about 6 a.m., called for an ambulance and said she

had been raped, the authorities said. The accusation transformed the

two-story tan-and-brown firehouse - known as Animal House - into a crime

scene: the street outside was choked with marked and unmarked police

vehicles and blocked off with yellow tape, and a steady procession of

detectives and police brass shuttled in and out of the building throughout

the day.

Faced with the woman's accusation, the firefighters said the sex had been

consensual, officials said. Extensive interviews with the men and with the

woman, who suffers from bipolar disorder, led the police, investigators from

the city's Department of Investigation and prosecutors to determine that no

criminal charges would be brought, a law enforcement official said.

Department officials last night were investigating whether two other

firefighters may have had sex with the woman as well.

Even though they do not face criminal charges, the two suspended

firefighters, Tony Deluca, 34, and Christian Waugh, 30, face departmental

charges for admitting the woman to the firehouse and having sex with her

there, and their supervisors - including a battalion chief - could face

discipline and transfer, Fire Department officials said.

Over the last year, the department has been besieged by a string of

embarrassing - and at times criminal - encounters ranging from a drunken

firehouse brawl on Staten Island on New Year's Eve, when a firefighter was

bashed in the head with a metal folding chair, to a series of high-profile

cases involving on-duty drinking and drug use. The episodes prompted

Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta to issue a tough policy on alcohol and to

institute random drug testing, which began this week.

Within the department, even those who noted that the firefighters had

claimed the sex was consensual said they were nonetheless astounded by the

poor judgment and reckless behavior exhibited by the men.

In addition to suspending Firefighter Deluca - who had developed an Internet

relationship with the woman and met her in person for the first time early

yesterday - and Firefighter Waugh, Commissioner Scoppetta took the house's

engine and truck out of service for most of the day so the investigation

could proceed, officials said.

He also reassigned to administrative duties the other nine firefighters who

work on the engine and truck, as well as the lieutenant, captain and

battalion chief. During the day, their firefighting duties were handled by

firehouses nearby.

In a statement, the Fire Department said its Bureau of Investigations and

Trials, along with fire marshals, were working with the Police Department

and the city's Department of Investigation to investigate the accusations.

"These are very serious allegations," the statement said.

The encounter began after the woman, who had also been in contact with

Firefighter Deluca by telephone, called him late Thursday or early Friday

and told him she was lonely, one official who had been briefed on the

investigation said. Firefighter Deluca told her to come to the firehouse and

let her in through a side door, the official said.

The two then had sex in the firehouse, and then Firefighter Waugh had sex

with the woman, the official said. She returned to Staten Island, and called

911 for an ambulance, the official said. While she told investigators she

had had consensual sex with Firefighter Deluca, she said that she had then

been raped by three other firefighters in succession, the official said.

But the interviews and investigation led police officials and prosecutors to

conclude that no crime had occurred, one law enforcement official said.

"They did extensive interviews with prosecutors and they can't see

criminality," the official said. "It just doesn't match up."

The official said the police would assist the administrative investigation

by the Department of Investigation and internal Fire Department

investigators.

Yesterday, everyone in the firehouse at the time of the incident was tested

for drugs, but the results were not available last night, an official said.

Lawyers for Firefighter Deluca and Firefighter Waugh, who have been in the

department for nearly eight and nine years respectively, could not be

reached for comment last night. Both men are married, a department official

said.

Neither man has a record of serious disciplinary infractions, a department

official said. One of them, Firefighter Waugh, comes from what was described

as a solid firefighting family. His father helped carry the body of Father

Mychal Judge, the department's chaplain, from the World Trade Center on

Sept. 11, 2001.A spokesman for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Tom

Butler, said the union would have no comment. "This is an investigation of

personal conduct, and individuals are being represented by their own

attorneys," he said.

[WAS967 97]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-...p-regional-wire

Firefighters suspended after woman charges rape in firehouse

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

Associated Press Writer

August 20, 2004, 8:19 PM EDT

NEW YORK -- Two firefighters were suspended Friday after a Staten Island

woman alleged that they raped her inside their Bronx firehouse, officials

said.

Police said Friday evening that it was unlikely charges would be filed in

the case. Fire officials said the woman had acknowledged to investigators

that the sex was consensual.

The 34-year-old woman called an ambulance early Friday morning and reported

that she had been raped by several firefighters inside the quarters of

Engine 75/Ladder 33 in the University Heights section, the officials said,

on condition of anonymity.

Doubts about the woman's story developed during the day and police said

there was insufficient evidence of a crime.

The fire department said it had suspended without pay firefighters Tony

Delucca and Christian Waugh. Departmental charges against the men were still

being prepared. They could involve violations of rules, including conduct

unbecoming a firefighter and bringing a civilian into a restricted area of a

firehouse, the officials said.

Delucca, 34, has been a firefighter for seven years, the department said.

Waugh, 30, is an 8-year veteran. Officials said the woman may have met one

of the firefighters on the Internet.

A spokesman for the Uniformed Firefighters Association said he didn't know

whether the two men had obtained lawyers.

Twelve firefighters who were working during the incident were reassigned to

administrative duties, fire officials said. The firehouse was designated as

a crime scene and shut down for much of the day.

The fire department has been suffering from a string of embarrassing

incidents including dozens of arrests of firefighters on drunk driving

charges this year and a drunken New Year's Eve brawl in a Staten Island fire

house that left one firefighter with severe facial injuries.

[WAS967 97]

This has been getting a LOT of press. The irony of the name "Animal House" gets me eash time I read about this.

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com

Sex spree at Animal House

This story was reported by:

MELISSA GRACE, BOB KAPPSTATER,

JONATHAN LEMIRE, MICHELE MCPHEE

and CARRIE MELAGO

It was written by:

GREG GITTRICH

Saturday, August 21st, 2004

A Bronx firehouse known as the Animal House was rocked yesterday by a

stunning sex scandal that exploded after a Staten Island woman paid a booty

call to her Bravest lover, authorities said.

The 34-year-old woman ended up having sex early yesterday with as many as

four on-duty firefighters in the firehouse, NYPD and FDNY sources said.

She gave various accounts of what happened, at first telling authorities she

had been gang-raped.

She recanted that story later in the day - saying the sex was consensual -

then changed back to the gang-rape version by nightfall, sources said.

Two firefighters were suspended without pay in the latest scandal to roil

the department.

Three FDNY officers and nine other firefighters who were in the firehouse at

the time of the incident were put on desk duty.

Police and fire investigators swarmed the busy Morris Heights firehouse

about 6 a.m. shortly after the woman - a divorced mother - dialed 911 and

leveled the blockbuster allegations, officials said.

"She said she was having sex with [one firefighter] when she was gang-raped

by other firefighters," said an FDNY official.

Police were continuing to investigate, but no criminal charges had been

filed as of last night.

Firefighter Tony DeLuca, a married 35-year-old father, met the woman in an

Internet sex chat room and exchanged messages with her for three months, but

he had never seen her until yesterday, sources told the Daily News.

DeLuca first tried to cover up the sex mess, telling investigators that he

fooled around with the woman in a parking area, the sources said.

But under questioning, he admitted having sex with her in a vestibule of

Ladder 33/Engine 75, at Walton Ave. and Cameron Place, sources said.

"By the time the police got there, the place was neatened and cleaned up,"

an NYPD official said.

Outraged by the latest scandal, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta doled

out punishment swiftly.

DeLuca and Firefighter Christian Waugh were suspended.

Waugh - who according to sources is the son of a heroic firefighter who

helped carry the body of FDNY chaplain Mychal Judge away from the World

Trade Center - also admitted to having sex with the woman inside the

cinder-block firehouse, authorities said.

The firehouse, adorned with glass bricks engraved with the names of Bronx

firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty, was taken out of

service about 8 a.m. and remained closed for much of the day as each

firefighter was grilled about the allegations.

Scoppetta said more heads could roll.

"These are very serious allegations," the commissioner said. "The Fire

Department's Bureau of Investigations and Trial, along with our fire

marshals, are working with the Police Department and Department of

Investigation to aggressively investigate these claims."

The disturbing incident began early yesterday when the woman called the

firehouse shortly after leaving a New Jersey nightclub and told DeLuca "she

was lonely," a FDNY source said. After telling DeLuca that her children were

with her ex-husband, the woman was invited by DeLuca to the firehouse. He

met her at a side door and had sex with her in a room off the kitchen,

sources said.

Waugh, 32, an eight-year veteran, then allegedly received oral sex from the

woman, several fire and police sources said.

The woman, who sources said has struggled with depression, told

investigators she had sex with as many as four firefighters, sources said.

At one point, she apparently grew concerned because, she said, she has a

sexually transmitted disease, and she eventually told firefighters she

wanted to leave, according to police sources.

"Nothing occurred after the word 'No,' " a police source said about the

woman's rape allegation.

"She goes home and tells mom, 'I'm a little bit tired, 'cause I went out

with some guys or whatever, and one of the guys got ugly,' " the source

said.

With her mother's prodding, the woman dialed 911 and charged she was

gang-raped, these sources said.

The woman was later examined at St. Vincent's Medical Center on Staten

Island and released. "By the time the 46th Precinct detectives [in the

Bronx] are over to the firehouse, the Fire Department brass are there

already," the source said.

NYPD Inspector Susan Morley, the commanding officer of the sex crimes squad,

was among the cops who responded to the firehouse.

The woman at the center of the case was looking at photos of firefighters

last night, but prosecutors and cops did not expect to seek criminal

charges, law enforcement sources said. "It seems it was consensual and it

got out of hand," one high-ranking police official said. Another

high-ranking police official called the sex "more scandalous than criminal."

"I'd put it on the level of the Staten Island firehouse incident," said the

official, referring to a New Year's Eve fight that saw one firefighter bash

another in the face with metal chair during a boozed-up brawl.

Police sources said that no alcohol was believed to be involved in the Bronx

sex scandal. Yesterday evening, a station wagon was parked outside DeLuca's

home on a leafy street in Valley Stream, L.I., near where his father had

served as the Cedarhurst fire chief.

A woman at DeLuca's home said he wasn't there.

"I don't know anything," she said before slamming the door.

On Staten Island, the woman who touched off the sex scandal spoke briefly to

reporters. "I have two small children and I wish the press would respect the

privacy of my family," she said.

A neighbor who gave her name only as Donna said the woman had grown up in

the neighborhood. "That is a very good family," Donna said. "She is a good

kid - always a good kid."

FEELING HEAT

The FDNY has been rocked by scandals this year. Here are some of them, as

described by authorities:

New Year's Eve: Staten Island firefighter bashed fellow firefighter in the

face with metal chair during an alcohol-fueled argument.

Jan. 18: East Harlem firehouse raided and alcohol confiscated. Two

firefighters tested positive for cocaine.

Jan. 30: FDNY captain and lieutenant suspended for drinking on duty at a

karaoke bar.

Feb. 21: Firefighter high on cocaine slammed his fire truck into another

engine in the Bronx, injuring 13 people.

March 28: Off-duty Staten Island firefighter arrested on charges of sexually

assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

April 9: Off-duty firefighter nabbed driving drunk in crash that killed an

18-year-old man.

May 13: Off-duty Queens firefighter busted with three automatic-assault

weapons in his home.

May 29: Off-duty firefighter arrested for punching a cop.

June 4: Off-duty Bronx firefighter arrested on cocaine charges.

June 8: Off-duty firefighter arrested for choking a cop in Harlem.

Aug. 16: A FDNY captain is the 28th firefighter charged with driving drunk

this year - surpassing the number of Bravest arrested on DWI charges during

all of 2003

[WAS967 97]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/stor...4p-192664c.html

Rowdy behavior the norm at firehouse

BY JONATHAN LEMIRE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The FDNY units scorched by a sex scandal are known as "Animal House" because

their original Bronx fire station dated back to the time when horse-drawn

rigs parked there.

But neighbors of the Bravest's new headquarters said comparisons to the

movie of the same name - about party-hearty frat boys - weren't far off the

mark.

Although Engine 75 and Ladder 33 are regularly among the busiest units in

the city, the men who work there like to let off some steam, residents said.

Until recently, a big Budweiser sign hung on the patio behind the firehouse,

built just four years ago on Walton Ave. and Cameron Place in Morris

Heights.

The sound of boisterous behavior was common, and one local teen said he saw

a firefighter flirting with a woman on the roof earlier this week.

"Two days ago, a team of FD inspectors arrived for what we heard was a

surprise inspection - and from the looks on the firefighters' faces, they

definitely got in trouble," said David Baez, 27.

Baez - who is the brother of Anthony Baez, a Bronx man who died in a police

choke hold in 1994 - said he saw the inspectors haul away the sign and some

party gear.

But he never imagined anything more sinister was going on behind the walls

of brick and glass tiles, etched with the names of fallen comrades.

"They're basically good guys with a few hotheads mixed in but they're young

guys. They like to party; they like to have a good time," Baez said.

Orlando Segui, 38, agreed.

"They're a bunch of guys who like to have fun," he said. "You see them

hanging out and going out together, and sometimes they're loud.

"They're usually friendly to us. But they've got their own thing going."

Others in the gritty, working-class neighborhood were disturbed by the

report of sexcapades and angry the investigation had shut down the firehouse

for most of the day.

"This is so shocking that something like that could happen at a firehouse,"

said Regina DeRocco, 29. "How can we feel safe? How can we count on them to

protect us?"

Richard Kirrstetter, who retired from Engine 75 in 1978 and now lives in

North Carolina, also was stunned when he heard the news.

"I don't understand how that could happen. Knowing their history and all the

guys who were there, I don't see how that could happen," he said.

"This just floors me. I don't believe it."

Originally published on August 21, 2004

[WAS967 97]

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27262.htm

2 SUSPENDED IN BX. FOR 'GROUPIE SEX'

By MURRAY WEISS and PHILIP MESSING

August 21, 2004 --

A TV reporter talks to a firefighter (top) yesterday at Engine 75/Ladder 33

as a cop carries evidence (above left) from the station (above right).

William C. Lopez (top); Robert Kalfus

A Bronx fire station that proudly calls itself "Animal House" was at the

center of a sex scandal yesterday as two firefighters were suspended - and

14 others reassigned - after a romp with a self-proclaimed firemen groupie,

sources said.

The Staten Island woman initially reported she was raped, but later told

police she'd had consensual sex with four firefighters inside Engine Co.

75/Ladder Co. 33 on Walton Avenue at around 2 a.m., sources said.

She also told cops she has had sex with 200 to 300 firefighters since 9/11 -

and that she has herpes. She also suffers from bipolar disorder, sources

said.

By yesterday afternoon, police had the firehouse roped off in yellow

crime-scene tape as they probed the allegation - while fire officials

suspended firefighters Christian Waugh, 31, and Tony Deluca, 34, both of

Ladder 33.

Waugh's father, also named Christian, was one of the firefighters who

carried the body of FDNY Chaplain Mychal Judge from the World Trade Center

before its collapse.

FDNY officials also reassigned 11 other firefighters, one fire captain, a

lieutenant and a battalion chief.

The department would not discuss the specific charges against Waugh and

Deluca. Having sex in a firehouse, however, is against department policy.

According to the firefighters' account, the married, 34-year-old Staten

Island woman went to the fire station after a night of clubbing in New

Jersey, a source said.

She got the invitation to the Bronx firehouse - which calls itself "Animal

House" - after calling Deluca, whom she met on the Internet, and telling

him, "I'm lonely," sources said.

Once there, she had sex with her online buddy - and then had a consensual

liaison with Waugh and two other firefighters, the sources said.

After the woman got home at about 6 a.m., however, she called 911 and

reported that she had been raped, sources said.

By yesterday afternoon, cops began an investigation, but the woman changed

her story, sources said. Instead of a gang-rape scenario, she admitted she

had intercourse with at least one firefighter in a downstairs lounge area -

and then engaged in oral sex with the others.

Waugh would not comment. Deluca could not be reached. Both men are married.

It is unclear whether any of the reassigned officers knew what was going on

downstairs in the early hours - but the city Department of Investigation has

initiated its own probe.

The agency will also investigate the woman's claim of bedding hundreds of

other firemen. Charges could be filed if any of the sex happened in a

firehouse or while the officers were supposed to be on-duty.

Police sources also said the woman acted strangely during questioning - and

even asked at one time that she be interviewed by more handsome detectives.

This firehouse sex shakeup is only the latest trouble for a fire department

that has been rocked by scandals involving sex, booze and violence over the

past year.

On New Year's Eve, a fight broke out at Engine 151 and Ladder 76 in Staten

Island in which a firefighter was critically injured after being smashed in

the head with a chair.

On Jan. 24, several firefighters were suspended when a stash of booze was

found at a Manhattan firehouse.

Since the beginning of this year, 28 firefighters have been busted for DWI.

Additional reporting by Joe McGurk, Larry Celona, Erin Calabrese, John Doyle

and Mark Bulliet

[WAS967 97]

I can't help but wonder: all the arrests for DUI - anyone wonder if they would have so many if the NYPD and the FDNY weren't at each other's throats? I mean the NYPD must have a significant number of incidents of MOS pulled over and found DUI but "let off the hook". Plenty of other places might yield professional courtesy and get the guy a ride home instead of throwing him in the klink. I wonder if the increase of DUI busts is linked to the fued? Food for thought.

[WAS967 97]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/...ynews-headlines

'Animal House' returns to normal

BY WILLIAM MURPHY, LUIS PEREZ AND ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

Staff Writers

August 21, 2004, 6:19 PM EDT

In at least one way it was business as usual at Ladder 33 and Engine 75

Saturday, firefighters rushing off whenever the alarm sounded, then

returning a short time later, the adrenaline rush over.

Inside the Bronx firehouse, however, it was anything but routine. Many of

the firefighters assigned there were elsewhere: two suspended without pay

for having consensual sex, while on-duty, with a Staten Island woman, and 12

others assigned to desk duty as fire officials try to sort out the lurid

details in the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents for the

department.

Although the woman initially reported she had been raped at the firehouse,

detectives from NYPD's Special Victims Squad, as well as investigators from

the Bronx District Attorney's office, have concluded that the sex was

consensual and that the two suspended firefighters will not face criminal

charges.

Monday investigators will take the next step in the burgeoning scandal,

interviewing in full everyone who worked on Friday, the day of the

sexcapades, and trying to determine if the woman, as she has said, had sex

with a third and fourth firefighter from the Morris Heights house known

affectionately among the rank and file as Animal House.

She has not been able to identify those firefighters, investigators said,

nor have investigators, though the probe will not hit full speed until

tomorrow, with the city Department of Investigation joining forces with fire

marshals and the FDNY's Bureau of Investigations and Trials.

The two firefighters suspended for having consensual sex with the

34-year-old woman are Tony DeLuca, a married 34-year-old father, and

Christian Waugh, 30.

DeLuca and the woman corresponded via an Internet chat room for at least two

months, then met for the first time on Friday, having sex at the Morris

Heights firehouse, police and fire sources said.

Later, she had oral sex with Waugh, then went home, called 911 and reported

being raped, a claim she later recanted, according to the sources. The woman

has suffered from depression and may have been having problems with

medication she was taking, police and fire sources said.

The FDNY Saturday had no comment on the matter. The firefighters' union

lawyers are not representing DeLuca and Waugh, an indication the union is

trying to distance itself from the scandal. The men's private attorneys

could not be reached for comment.

DeLuca was in hiding Saturday. No one answered the door at his Valley Stream

home and neighbors refused comment.But in Cedarhurst, where DeLuca grew up,

one neighbor, Joe Santora, 77, described DeLuca as a good family man, "a

real gentleman."

In Pine Bush, in Orange County, a woman who answered the phone at Waugh's

home refused comment, then hung up.

Twelve other firefighters working on Friday - including a lieutenant, a

captain and a battalion chief - have been put on desk duty.

Back at the firehouse, firefighters were mum, but some neighbors threw their

support behind them, describing those assigned there as do-gooders, whether

it's taking in a stray dog, giving away bicycles during a block party or

opening up the fire hydrant so kids could cool off.

"We love our fireman," Mayda Santiago, 49, said loud enough for some of them

to hear, one smiling back. "They say hi to my niece from my window all the

time."

Others said the firefighters enjoy playing pranks on each other, such as

dumping buckets of water on each other.

"They're all like a bunch of big kids," said Daisy Ortiz, 29, "They're like

brothers. After dinner they play basketball and stickball. It's never late

or anything and then they close the doors and they're gone

"That's what we're seeing, but behind closed doors you never know what's

going on."

The scandal is the latest black eye for the FDNY, starting with the Staten

Island firehouse assault during a booze-filled party last New Year's Eve.

Since then, there have been a number of high-profile incidents, including:

<a raid on an East Harlem firehouse, with alcohol confiscated and two

firefighters testing positive for cocaine.

<the arrests of 28 firefighters for allegedly driving drunk, more than for

all of 2003.

<the arrest of two firefighters for allegedly assaulting cops in separate

incidents.

<the arrest of a firefighter who was allegedly high on cocaine when the fire

truck he was driving hit another engine in the Bronx.

Staff writer Jonathan Mummolo contributed to this story.

[Guest]

This just makes me wonder....How hard can it possibly be to just do your job and go home at the end of your shift!

We all take an oath to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the general public we serve. That not only includes your conduct on duty, but off duty as well. Whether or not the NYPD is offering professional courtesy to the FDNY for a DWI is besides the point. We all know better, and the act itself is what's unacceptable. There should be ZERO DWI's for the FDNY each year.

We chose this profession (be it police, fire, ems or dispatch) because we answer to a higher calling. If you can't handle that level of responsibility, then give the badge back and be a civilian.

Nother personal here gentlemen (and ladies) I am certainly not attacking anyone's opinion. It just aggravates me when a great organization like the FDNY has members with such poor judgement and low morals.

[WAS967 97]

Every organization has it's bad apples. From the huge FDNY all the way down to the local community FD. FDNY just has a WHOLE LOT more people so it SEEMS as if they are worse than the rest. Problem with society is nobody seems to think in relative terms. Lets say FDNY has 10,000 members. And lets say a mere 1/2 of 1% of the people are "bad apples". That means that 50 members stastically would bring bad press to the department. Seems like a lot, but figure that that is more people than in a lot of towns out west.

[WAS967 97]

This gets more wierd the more i read about it.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/29222.htm

BURNING PASSION

By PHILIP MESSING, MURRAY WEISS and ALY SUJO

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----

August 22, 2004 -- The mom who claims she's slept with hundreds of

firefighters and cops since 9/11 has prompted an FDNY probe to see if her

sexual odyssey took her to firehouses other than a Bronx station,

investigators told The Post yesterday.

The 34-year-old Staten Island woman first claimed to be a rape victim - then

said she had wild sex with up to four firefighters Friday at the Fordham

station, known as "Animal House."

The randy divorcée has claimed she pursued a host of FDNY and NYPD men in

uniform while on a cocktail of prescription drugs to treat depression,

bipolar disorder and genital herpes, authorities told The Post.

She also told investigators she has had sex with between 200 and 300

uniformed officers since Sept. 11, 2001, sources said.

Police and the Bronx DA closed their criminal investigations into the

woman's claims - partly from statements she made during initial interviews,

according to a source with knowledge of those conversations.

The woman didn't like the questions that two female detectives were asking

her and told authorities to " 'Send in some cute male detectives and I'll

tell them anything you want to know.' That's when [authorities] started to

doubt her," the source said.

Fire investigators are anxious to talk to her further about her claims of

firehouse sexual shenanigans.

Officials now believe consensual sex took place in the Engine 75-Ladder 33

firehouse, and that the woman may have had encounters with as many as four

men there early Friday.

Two married firefighters - identified as Tony Deluca, 34, and Christian

Waugh, 30 - have been suspended without pay after the high jinks, and nine

other firefighters and three supervisors were placed on desk duty.

Investigators tomorrow will interrogate each firefighter on duty at the

time, and anyone who fails to tell the truth will be fired, a source said.

The two men face quick dismissal, and two others believed to have had sex

with the woman also could be fired.

Three supervisors could take "a major hit" in the scandal, the source added.

"From here, it depends on how many other fish there are to fry," the source

said.

Officials said the woman visited the firehouse after several steamy Internet

chats and phone-sex calls with one of the firefighters, and that their first

sexual encounter - on a back-room couch - became a multipartner

free-for-all.

Investigators said the woman allegedly mocked the manhood of a second

firefighter who came into the room.

Probers were homing in on two other firefighters involved in the romp.

The probers are looking into the possibility of past orgies at other

firehouses.

Neighbors and family friends said the accuser not only has a yen for

firefighters, but also likes to go after cops.

As recently as a week ago, one neighbor said, she had been dating the

supervisor of a police canine unit.

The officer left his bomb-sniffing dog in his car while he visited her in

the home she shares with her parents and two kids, the neighbor said.

"The facts can change, but right now there's nothing criminal about it,"

said the source.

But the woman still feels she was victimized, said sources familiar with her

statements to investigators.

The city's Department of Investigation said it seized a computer from the

firehouse and were looking for e-mails and other communications between the

woman and firefighters.

Investigators want to see if the torrid exchanges between at least one of

the firefighters and the woman took place "on city time."

"We suspect that there was communication between the woman at the center of

this and at least one firefighter that took place on a firehouse computer,"

said another law- enforcement source close to the case.

Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese, Georgett Roberts and Post Wire

Services

[Guest]

Perhaps the question should be, what percentage of bad apples is acceptable? What if Deluca was a member of your or my FD. Would it be ok if he was only one in 1,000?

It wouldn't be ok with me. We all work hard to provide the best service to the public as possible. When our co-workers do things like this, it's unacceptable.

[dc2t 80]

Face it we can do 1000 great jobs but when there is a bump in the road the press runs it up the flag pole. News 12 did an on scene report in front of the station saturday in the pouring rain but there was no live press with storm damage in Westchester. As local as local news doesnt get! ](*,)

[WAS967 97]

Sexcapade woman in psych unit

By ADAM NICHOLS and GREG GITTRICH

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

The Staten Island woman who touched off an FDNY sex scandal by claiming she

was gang-raped in a Bronx firehouse has checked herself into a psychiatric

ward, her estranged husband said yesterday.

"She's in the hospital," said the husband, a former Triborough Bridge and

Tunnel Authority officer who split with his wife after she allegedly had

several affairs with cops and firefighters following the 9/11 terror

attacks.

"It's not the first time," the husband added, saying his wife checked

herself into a psychiatric hospital for about a week in April 2002.

The husband, who is vacationing with the couple's two young children in

Florida, said his wife has battled a bipolar disorder for years and has gone

on and off a variety of medicines.

His most pressing concern since his 34-year-old wife told cops she was

raped, he said, has been to shield their children from hearing the horrible

story.

"Thank God I'm on vacation," the 35-year-old Staten Island man said softly.

"I've been able to keep them unaware and away from it as much as possible."

The woman dialed 911 Friday morning and first told cops she was raped by

three firefighters after having consensual sex with Firefighter Tony DeLuca

at Engine 75/Ladder 33 in Morris Heights, authorities said.

She later recanted the story and said all of the sex was consensual - only

to claim again that she was raped, sources said.

No criminal charges have been filed and none are expected, law enforcement

officials said.

The Daily News is withholding the names of the woman and her husband because

of the rape allegation.

The city Department of Investigation already has interviewed the woman and

several witnesses. Firefighters at the fire company - long known as the

Animal House - are expected to be grilled as soon as today.

DeLuca, 34, and another firefighter, Christian Waugh, 30, have been

suspended without pay. FDNY brass also put three officers and nine other

firefighters on desk duty.

Any firefighter who participated in the sex or attempted to cover up the

latest scandal to shake the FDNY could be dismissed, sources said.

Several of DeLuca's neighbors in Valley Stream, L.I., have called the

married father a good man. But in a bizarre twist yesterday, a woman claimed

he tried to get her to go to a sex club with him and another firefighter in

January.

"This guy's not the family man people say he is," said a 36-year-old woman

who approached reporters outside DeLuca's house. "He did the same [stuff] to

me."

The woman said DeLuca took her son to the firehouse during their two-year

affair.

She claimed the tryst ended after he made a lurid request in January.

"He asked me if I felt comfortable with other men touching me, and if I

would go to a sex club with a man he worked with," she said, as four

children waited in her car.

"My marriage is ending," she said, admittedly bitter. "He's getting what he

deserved."

The woman who sparked the FDNY scandal met DeLuca in an Internet sex chat

room three months ago, sources said.

Investigators have seized from the firehouse a computer they believe DeLuca

used to troll sex sites and chat with the woman, sources said.

When DeLuca is interrogated, he will be asked why he allegedly lied about

the sexcapade, sources said. Police sources said he first claimed he had sex

with the mother in a parking area. A high-ranking police official also said

the scene was cleaned up before cops arrived.

FDNY and NYPD investigators believe the woman had sex with as many as four

firefighters. But the woman, who has bragged about sleeping with "hundreds

of firefighters," has not been able to identify two of the men, sources

said.

After reporting the alleged attack, she also told authorities she wanted

them to send handsome detectives to interview her, raising great concern

among investigators, a source said.

DeLuca and Waugh could not be reached for comment.

[WAS967 97]

http://cbsnewyork.com/local/NYC--Firehouse...urces_news_html

Fire department expands investigation into firehouse sex

Monday August 23, 2004

NEW YORK (AP) The New York City Fire Department is expanding its

investigation into an alleged orgy at a Bronx firehouse. A woman had

initially claimed she was raped by more than one firefighter at Engine 75,

Ladder 33 in University Heights.

She later recanted the claim. She apparently visited the firehouse after

having sex chats via the Internet with one of the firefighters.

There are several news reports that the 34-year-old Staten Island woman may

have had sex at other firehouses in the city, sleeping with 200 to 300

firefighters and police officers since the September Eleventh, 2001,

attacks. The woman's estranged husband told the Daily News that she is

``deeply troubled'' and can't keep her hands off firefighters and police

officers.

Two married firefighters have already been suspended in connection with the

incident, because even consensual sex in a firehouse violates regulations.

Nine other firefighters and three supervisors were placed on desk duty.

A spokesperson for the Department of Investigation says the agency has

interviewed several witnesses and has seized computers from the firehouse.

Investigators plan to question other firefighters in University Heights

today.