State police have released little information in the case of Cairo police chief Christopher Sprague, who was arrested last Wednesday on felony charges of evidence tampering. But a couple of enterprising reporters at the Albany Times-Union have turned to court records and anonymous insider sources to dig up some more detail on the case.
According to a story published in the Times Union on Saturday, Sprague is accused of wiping fingerprints off a .380 caliber handgun connected to a criminal investigation, and instructing a man who possessed the gun illegally and turned it in to lie about it:
Court records show Sprague is accused of trying to "conceal latent prints and other physical evidence" before he turned the handgun over to the State Police. In addition, Sprague is accused of telling State Police that the gun was left in a box at the Cairo Police Department and that he did not know who turned it in, according to the law enforcement source.
The felony charge of first-degree tampering with public records relates to allegations that Sprague directed a Cairo police officer to falsify a state report indicating the gun had been anonymously surrendered, the source said.
Sprague also is charged with misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting an incident and tampering with a witness — for allegedly instructing the man who turned in the gun to lie about the incident.
Meanwhile, in Cairo, the town board has suspended Sprague without pay, and appointed a replacement to serve in his stead while the case is investigated. From a recent story in the Daily Mail:
The board also appointed Sgt. Richard Bush to take over the reins of the police department. Bush, Cairo’s only other full-time officer, will be in charge of the town’s 10 part-time patrolmen. Bush will also serve as the town’s animal control officer during Sprague’s suspension.
“It’s shocking to us,” Banta said when questioned by reporters at the news conference. “Sprague was a colleague and a friend.”
