Child welfare supervisor fired

A Child Protective Services supervisor was fired after

Nassau County investigators said he lied about accessing confidential records

of a village policeman who gave him a speeding ticket last fall.

"He used that information in an attempt to undermine the credibility of the

officer," said Bonnie Garone, the county's commissioner of investigations.

Garone said she conducted a three-month inquiry after the North Shore

officer alleged "official misconduct" against the supervisor.

Glen Tuifel, 40, of Glen Cove and a 13-year CPS veteran, was fired Tuesday.

Tuifel and his lawyer, Bob McDonald of Carle Place, could not be reached for

comment.

Garone, who gave her files on the case to Nassau District Attorney Kathleen

Rice's office yesterday, said Tuifel took exception to the September ticket he

got.

"Believing he was targeted in retaliation for a prior negative experience

the officer had with the county," she said, "Mr. Tuifel accessed the computer

system and searched for records involving the officer and disclosed some of

that data [to the court] in October in an attempt to have the ticket dismissed."

Garone said Tuifel denied he had accessed records related to the officer.

"But we had state technology people check the computer system for us, and they

determined he had," she said.

Garone couldn't say what happened with the ticket, and the district

attorney's office would not comment on the case.

Nassau Commissioner of Social Services John Imhoff said: "Our programs

depend upon the integrity of the information entrusted to us by the law and by

the public, and unauthorized use of protected records will not be tolerated."