Hundreds of parole officers flood Bronx courthouse for sentencing of man who tried to kill three of them

ALBANY, NY (01/29/2014)(readMedia)-- ALBANY – Hundreds of state parole officers and others are attending the sentencing this morning of Jonathan Lee in state Supreme Court in the Bronx. Lee was convicted December 17, 2013, of attempted murder in the first degree and other offenses committed against parole officers when they took him into custody for violating his parole.

"We are here to make a strong statement of solidarity that we will respond to an attack on any of us as an attack on all of us. It will not be tolerated," said state parole officer V. Antonio Perez, an Executive Board member of the NYS Public Employees Federation (PEF), the labor union that represents parole officers and other professional, scientific and technical employees of the state.

Three parole officers were injured while taking Lee into custody September 2, 2011. Lee hit senior parole officer Karen Gormley on the head with a gun. Lee then tried to shoot her, but the gun did not fire because officer Jonathan Dumberger had managed to switch on the gun's safety lock during the struggle.

"This is the second time in less than a year that a parolee has been convicted and sentenced for trying to kill a parole officer," Perez said. "Our job has always been dangerous and some of us have been murdered doing it, but this is the first time two parolees have been convicted within a year of trying to kill us. That's because we are now dealing with a bigger proportion of the most violent felons. The state has been emptying its prisons of the less violent offenders, and now it is determined to send even more dangerous inmates back into the communities of this state, and it's our duty to protect those communities," Perez said.

The previous conviction and sentencing Perez mentioned was that of Robert Morales who was sentenced in April 2013 to serve 40 years to life after walking into a state parole office in Brooklyn in April 2010 and shooting his parole officer, Sam Salters, at point blank range. Salters was severely injured, but survived because he turned his head just as he was shot, and because Morales' gun jammed after the first shot. Morales previously had been convicted of murdering someone and was on parole for that offense when he tried to kill Salters.

"Our courageous parole officers face tremendous dangers as they work to keep New Yorkers safe," said PEF President Susan M. Kent. "Unfortunately, when parole officers are injured while performing their duties, they do not receive the same benefits as police officers.A bill, A05899/S04095, is pending in the state Legislature that would begin to correct that inequity, by giving parole officers continued salary and paid medical expenses when recovering from such injuries."

PEF is New York's second largest state-employee union, representing approximately 54,000 employees of the state and other public and private employers. For more information, contact Jane Briggs, executive assistant to the PEF president, at 518 785-1900, ext. 211 or on her cell at 518-486-3843 , or you may call officer Perez at 716-485-6462.