The United States Attorney's Office

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Salvatore Lopresti, a former Captain at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (“BOP”) Metropolitan Detention Center (“MDC”) in Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty today to obstructing a federal grand jury investigation in April 2004 by making false statements to the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, concerning memoranda he had issued to several MDC correctional officers which enabled them to purchase and carry concealed off-duty weapons without obtaining a required firearms permit. During an interview with DOJ/OIG investigators, Lopresti falsely denied writing any such memoranda. The government’s investigation uncovered eight of the memoranda on Lopresti’s MDC computer and in various firearms stores in and around New York City.

Last week, Lopresti was convicted by a jury of conspiring to violate the civil rights of a former MDC inmate, obstruction of justice, and false statement charges following a separate, unrelated federal investigation. Lopresti, who was one of the highest ranking officials at the MDC until February 2005, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for the current obstruction of justice charge, in addition to the maximum 20-year sentence he faces on his conviction last week. Lopresti remains incarcerated pending sentencing by United States District Judge Carol B. Amon.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah Coyne and Robert M. Radick, assisted by Office of Inspector General Special Agent Laura Riley.

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