DEP worker arrested for profane phone calls

He was supposed to help with water bills. Instead, prosecutors charge, he spouted profanities and threatened city residents with lethal violence. 

Lamont Jackson, a clerical associate with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, was arrested earlier this week for making “abusive, profane, and threatening calls” to two city residents who had called the agency to inquire about their water usage. 

Jackson, 50, was arrested Wednesday at DEP’s customer service center on Livingston Street in Brooklyn and charged with three counts of second-degree aggravated harassment. He was later charged with a seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance count after the arresting Department of Investigation detective uncovered eight glassine envelopes of cocaine on him. All four counts are class A misdemeanors, with conviction on each count punishable by up to a year’s jail time.  

According to the DOI, Jackson, working at the DEP’s customer service, handled a call in July last year from a person asking about their water bill. After telling the customer to submit the concern in writing and hanging up, Jackson called the customer using his own cellphone, but blocking his number. 

When the customer did not answer, Jackson let fly, leaving a tirade of invective on voice mail. 

He called the person again a few minutes later, this time threatening the customer in a message again left on voice mail. “Imma kill your fucking ass,” Jackson said, according to charging documents. “You know I know where you live at.”

About two months later, another water customer called and spoke with Jackson for about three minutes. Jackson, again using his cellphone and blocking his number, dialed the customer’s phone a few minutes laster. When the customer answered, Jackson cursed the person and hung up. 

Jackson’s supervisor, a DEP administrative manager, heard the voice mails and identified Jackson voice, leading to an investigation by both DOI and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting.

When the arresting officer turned up the glassine envelopes during the arrest, Jackson said, “That’s cocaine. That’s my stuff,” according to the DA’s office. “I’m using.”

Although Jackson still works in the agency’s Customer Services Bureau, the DOI said, he no longer is allowed to have telephone contact with customers.

Jackson, who started working at the DEP in December 2017, has access to agency records, including water customers’ home addresses and telephone numbers. The judge overseeing the matter granted orders of protection for the two customers who received the threatening calls, the DA’s office said. 

His attorney, a public defender, did not reply to an emailed request for comment. 

“As charged, this defendant’s disturbing and harassing behavior is unacceptable under any circumstances, but particularly for a City employee charged with responding to questions from members of the public,” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said in a statement. 

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez was equally aggrieved. “Customers who contact City agencies deserve to be treated with respect. In this case, however, it is alleged that the defendant left disturbing messages for customers who he was supposed to be helping,” he said, also in a statement.

Jackson, a Bronx resident, was released on his own recognizance following his arraignment in Kings County Criminal Court. His next court date is scheduled for June 12.