Garden City man acquitted by judge in 'Flush the Johns' case

A Garden City man swept up in an anti-prostitution sting last year was acquitted by a judge Wednesday on a charge of patronizing a prostitute, and the man's lawyer said the case should not have been brought.

Judge Sharon Gianelli, who presided at Walter Delaney's nonjury trial in First District Court in Hempstead, said prosecutors had not provided credible evidence that there was an offer to pay money for sex.

Outside court, Delaney's attorney, Leslie Rudman of Jericho, said: "The arrest never should have occurred, and this was an overzealous prosecution."

Rudman said the telephone call to an undercover officer in which Delaney, 55, supposedly made the solicitation was not recorded, and a video of when he met the undercover officer in a hotel room did not show any offer of money for sex.

Delaney said he knew he had not committed a crime, and criticized Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who held a news conference last year and released photographs of all 104 men arrested on the patronizing charges.

"Unfortunately, the damage has been done," Delaney said.

A Rice spokesman said he could not discuss the facts of the case, but her office "will continue to vigorously pursue these cases."

Delaney was the sixth defendant in the sting to go to trial and the fifth to be acquitted.

More than 80 of the men have pleaded guilty to some charge.

Assistant District Attorney George Michel had said in his summation that there was no requirement in the law that money change hands, only that a person either "pays or agrees to pay" for sex.

Michel said Delaney must have viewed sexually suggestive ads placed on the Internet by Nassau County police because he called the undercover officer at a telephone number in the ad.

Delaney went to the hotel, called the number again, and went to the room where the undercover officer said she would be waiting, the prosecutor said.

The 104 arrests took place in April and May 2013 after police said they received complaints about prostitution activity at hotels in Nassau. Police officials called the operation a "reversal" of their usual tactic of arresting prostitutes.

Rice publicized the arrests at a June 2013 news conference and dubbed the sting "Flush the Johns."

There are seven open cases awaiting trial, a handful have been dismissed by judges and are being appealed, one case was handled as a juvenile prosecution, and an arrest warrant has been issued for one defendant who never appeared in court to face charges.