Ex-NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Harrington pleads guilty to criminal charge

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A former New York Police Department official has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge involving cash and gifts from a pair of businessmen in Brooklyn.

Ex-Deputy Chief Michael Harrington entered the plea in Manhattan federal court Thursday to a charge of misapplication of property valued at $5,000 or more.

He could face up to 10 years behind bars, but a plea deal with prosecutors recommends he be sentenced to no more than six months in prison, if at all.

His lawyer, Andrew Weinstein, noted afterward that bribery charges the 52-year-old Staten Island resident once faced will be dismissed.

Harrington was arrested as part of the 2016 probe that also implicated retired NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant and a businessman Jeremy Reichberg

Harrington admitted arranging services including a police escort for a funeral, counterterrorism protection at a midtown Manhattan synagogue at Jewish holidays and for disabled children to observe NYPD training.

Prosecutors say Harrington received tens of thousands of dollars in meals, trips, home renovations and other benefits.

Sentencing was set for June 11.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)