Judah Karkowsky: Forged Transcript, Sentencing, and Appeal

Judah Karkowsky, a former Woodmere Fire District commissioner on Long Island, was convicted in April 2024 of forging a court transcript to make it look like a judge had cleared him on the merits of a prior sex abuse case. He used the fake document to try to regain standing at his synagogue and to support $30 million in claims against Nassau County and the Woodmere Fire District. He began serving a one-year jail sentence in January 2026 after his appeals failed.

The Sex Abuse Case Behind the Forgery

Karkowsky was working as a volunteer paramedic on August 28, 2021, when he responded to a call about four children trapped in an elevator in Cedarhurst. Police later alleged that, after the rescue, he was left alone with a 13-year-old boy and inappropriately touched him.¹ He was arrested on September 23, 2021, and charged with second-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.²

The misdemeanor case never went to trial. On May 6, 2022, Nassau County District Court Judge Douglas Lerose dismissed the charges because prosecutors had violated CPL 30.30, New York’s 90-day speedy-trial rule.³ The dismissal was procedural. It said nothing about whether the allegations were true.

What Karkowsky Forged

Karkowsky obtained a legitimate transcript of the May 6, 2022, dismissal and inserted a sentence the judge never said: “Notwithstanding, this court has believed for some time that the People’s case lacked substance and should not have reached this point.”⁴ The added line was crafted to turn a technical dismissal into what read as a judicial declaration of innocence.

How He Used the Fake Transcript

On May 16, 2022, Karkowsky sent a photograph of the altered transcript to leaders at Young Israel of Woodmere, where his access had been restricted after the allegations. He wanted the synagogue board to believe the charges had been dismissed on the merits.⁵

Then came the lawsuits. On August 1, 2022, he served a Notice of Claim against Nassau County seeking $15 million, alleging that police and prosecutors had ignored exculpatory evidence. Three days later he served a second Notice of Claim, this one against the Woodmere Fire District and Fire Department, seeking another $15 million for false arrest. Both filings quoted the fabricated judicial statement, and Karkowsky swore before a notary that the contents were true.³ He later filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York built on those same claims.⁴

How the Forgery Was Exposed

An official audio recording of the May 6, 2022, hearing existed, and it contained nothing resembling the inserted sentence. Judge Lerose and the official court reporter both testified to that.³ Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said she had “never seen a defendant go to the lengths this defendant did to stand by his blatant fraud,” noting that he insisted on trial “despite the existence of an audio recording of the dismissal proceedings that clearly and concretely refuted his sham.”⁴

Karkowsky was arrested on November 9, 2022, and indicted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Public Corruption Bureau.³

The Conviction

A jury before Judge Robert A. Schwartz in Nassau County Supreme Court convicted Karkowsky on all counts on April 18, 2024:

One count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, a class D felony.
Three counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a class E felony.
Two counts of making an apparently sworn false statement in the first degree, a class E felony.
Two counts of criminal contempt in the second degree, a class A misdemeanor.⁴

The Sentence

On June 20, 2024, Judge Schwartz sentenced Karkowsky to one year in jail on each felony count, with all sentences running concurrently. Donnelly called the conduct “a flagrant attack on the integrity of the criminal justice system,” pointing to the way Karkowsky “doubled down on this deceit by using the language he concocted to file multi-million-dollar lawsuits.”³

The Appeal

Karkowsky appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department, arguing that the evidence was legally insufficient, that the trial court should not have admitted evidence about the underlying sex abuse case, that communications with a friend who was an attorney should have been privileged, and that the court had improperly limited his defense.⁶

On December 10, 2025, the appellate court unanimously affirmed the conviction. It held that the evidence was legally sufficient, that the earlier proceeding was properly admitted as necessary background rather than as a prior bad act, and that Karkowsky’s unilateral belief that he had an attorney-client relationship did not create one.⁷ His request for leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was also denied.⁵

Karkowsky was taken into custody at the Nassau County jail on January 29, 2026, and is scheduled for release in September 2026.⁵

What Happened to the Civil Suit

The federal civil rights case Karkowsky had built on his fraudulent Notices of Claim, Karkowsky v. Nassau County, No. 2:23-cv-05949 in the Eastern District of New York, had been stayed during the criminal proceedings. After the conviction was affirmed, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal on May 18, 2026, and the court entered a dismissal order the next day.⁸

1
Newsday. Woodmere Paramedic Arrested for Sexual Abuse
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LI Herald. Woodmere Man Arrested for Sexual Abuse
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Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Judah Karkowsky Sentenced
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Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Judah Karkowsky Convicted
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Daily Voice. Ex-Woodmere Fire Commish Jailed for Forged Court Transcript
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NYCourts.gov. People v. Karkowsky, Appellate Division Decision
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FindLaw. People v. Karkowsky
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CourtListener. Karkowsky v. Nassau County