Former Huntington official charged with making false claims 

The former director of maritime services for the Town of Huntington could face up to four years in prison on a felony charge of falsifying information on an application for a bay constable Civil Service exam, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Dominic Spada surrendered to the district attorney's office in Hauppauge Wednesday morning and was arraigned on charges of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a felony; making a punishable false written statement, a misdemeanor; second-degree falsifying business records, a misdemeanor; and fifth-degree conspiracy, a misdemeanor, according to a district attorney's office news release.

The district attorney's office said he falsified his work experience on an application with the Suffolk County Department of Civil Service and conspired with Michael Langenbach, owner of Sea Tow Huntington, to corroborate the false claims.

Spada’s defense attorney, Raymond Perini of Islandia, said he entered not guilty pleas to all charges. He said a lot of people embellish resumes and get jobs, but that was not the case with Spada.

"This is the kind of case if they can prove it, that sometimes a prosecutor has to sit back and realize they have discretion. He took no one’s position, no one got hurt, if it’s true, and we’ve denied it," Perini said. "So why do this? Why make this literally a federal case?"

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Ward, of the Public Integrity Bureau, is prosecuting the case.

Spada was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court March 16. Langenbach could not be reached for comment. The district attorney's office would not say whether Langenbach would face charges.

According to the district attorney, Spada filed an application with Civil Service to take the open competitive examination for the position of bay constable, which requires applicants to have a minimum of two years maritime experience.

Spada allegedly falsely claimed on his application to have worked for Sea Tow Huntington for five years. He also allegedly entered into a conspiracy with Langenbach to corroborate his application by having Langenbach email a county civil service representative falsely stating Spada previously worked for him. The indictment also says Spada instructed Langenbach to lie to a district attorney office representative regarding Spada working with his company.

All of the alleged crimes took place between Aug. 4, 2018, and Aug. 8, 2019.

Spada resigned from his director’s job Friday.

Spada also is an elected trustee in the Village of Huntington Bay, a harbormaster in the Town of Islip, and the first assistant chief of the Halesite Fire Department.