The former president of one of the nation’s largest police unions pleaded guilty Friday to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union to fund a lavish lifestyle that prosecutors say included high-end restaurants and lavish personal items.
Ed Mullins, 61, of Port Washington, New York, entered a plea to wire fraud charges in Manhattan federal court before Judge John G. Koeltl, who set the sentence for May 25 and signed an order requiring him to forfeit $600,000.
A plea agreement between Mullins and prosecutors recommended Mullins be sentenced between two years, nine months in prison and three years, five months in prison.
Mullins resigned in October 2021 as head of the Sergeant Benevolent Association after the FBI searched the union’s Manhattan office and Long Island home. The SBA, which represents about 13,000 active and retired sergeants, is the fifth largest police union in the country. He retired weeks later from the New York Police Department.
During his plea, Mullins admitted he stole money by falsifying expense reports between late 2017 and October 2021. He did not comment as he left court. But he stopped for a moment in the rain so the photographer could take his picture.
In court papers, prosecutors said Mullins stole the money in part to pay for meals at fancy restaurants and to buy lavish personal items. Sometimes, he said, he billed private supermarkets to the union and counted expensive meals with friends as business expenses.
His lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, said outside court that with the plea, his client “took a big step today to right his wrongs.”
Kenniff said he hopes that Mullins will ultimately be judged not by criminal charges, but better for the city and the NYPD during his career.
In a release, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Mullins reneged on his promise to protect thousands of police sergeants by stealing “hundreds of thousands of dollars from them to fund his lavish lifestyle.”
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