Former NYPD Officer Valerie Cincinelli offered a terse apology Friday as she copped to one count of obstruction as part of an alleged plot to knock off her estranged husband and her boyfriend’s daughter.
“I know that what I did was wrong and I’m sorry, Your Honor,” she said stiffly, reading from a prepared statement during the virtual hearing in Central Islip federal court.
It wasn’t until later in the proceeding that Cincinelli, 36, showed some emotion, dissolving into tears when US District Judge Joanna Seybert asked her how long she’d been locked up.
“For two years, I haven’t seen my son!” the disgraced ex-cop wailed, referring to the 23 months she has spent behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The proceeding moved forward in front of Judge Seybert after Long Island federal jurist Sandra Feuerstein, who had been presiding over the case, was killed by a hit-and-run driver last week in Florida.
Cincinelli, a 12-year veteran of the force who officially resigned last month, faces a minimum of 46 to 57 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines — but Assistant US Attorney Anthony Bagnuola said the government would push for 60 months.
In exchange for her guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the two murder-for-hire counts against her.
In May 2019, Cincinelli was arrested for allegedly paying her then-boyfriend John DiRubba $7,000 to hire a hitman to assassinate her estranged husband, Isaiah Carvalho Jr., amid a contentious divorce and custody battle over their son. Cincinelli also has a daughter from a prior marriage.
It wasn’t just her ex she wanted out of the picture. She allegedly added to her hit list DiRubba’s 15-year-old daughter, who she whined was taking up too much of her dad’s time and money.
“Run her the f–k over, how about that,” she allegedly told DiRubba, court papers charge.
Defense lawyer James Kousouros said prosecutors were agreeing to dismiss the top charges because “Ms. Cincinelli didn’t commit murder-for-hire” and asked the judge to spring her on a $2 million bail package pending sentencing.
Judge Seybert agreed to reconsider Cincinelli’s bail request — which had been rejected on four prior occasions — over the objection of Bagnuola. The prosecutor cited a court-ordered psychiatric report that concluded the ex-cop was “remorseless, and lacks impulse control.”
Cincinelli was caught after DiRubba was busted for another crime, confessed to the twisted plan then cooperated with authorities. He wore a wire that allegedly recorded Cincinelli scheming to have her two targets snuffed out, according to prosecutors.
The feds set up a sting and falsely told Cincinelli that Carvalho had been murdered and directed DiRubba to show her a staged photograph of her husband dead in a car.
