A former probation officer in Nassau County pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a woman he supervised and falsifying records related to her probation, officials said Monday.
Matthew Albertson, 43, of Smithtown, was accused of being sexually involved with a woman under his supervision for about four months, starting in late 2021, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Their involvement came to light in August 2023, after an attorney for the woman reported the relationship to county authorities, providing screenshots of text messages and other supporting documentation suggesting the two had been involved from November 2021 through at least March 2022.
An investigation by the DA’s office found that between January 2022 and August 2023, Albertson falsified case notes about the woman’s drug tests, office visits and home visits on at least nine occasions.
They included entries that falsely stated the woman had been drug-tested at the probation office, as well as notes that phone check-ins and home and office visits had been made on specific dates when evidence such as phone records and text messages showed the check-ins never happened.
Investigators said Albertson had sex with the woman — including during a home visit — in violation of rules that prohibit intimate relationships between officers and the people they supervise.
He also gave her money on at least 18 occasions — about $8,000, which was used for a car rental, manicures, food and other expenses — and failed to report that she had texted him to say she experienced a fentanyl overdose.
On Monday, Albertson pleaded guilty to offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said, blasting his behavior as “an abhorrent abuse of power and a slap in the face to integrity and fairness.”
He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 14 and faces up to six months in jail and five years of probation.
