NYC sheriff’s office searched by DOI as part of probe into Anthony Miranda, illegal pot shop cash seizures: sources

The city’s sheriff’s office in Queens was searched Thursday morning by the Department of Investigation as part of a probe into Sheriff Anthony Miranda and his office’s handling of cash seizures from illegal pot shops, sources told The Post.

The DOI descended on the sheriff office’s Long Island City headquarters after Miranda on Wednesday found an estimated tens of thousands of dollars in cash inside a safe in the building, sources said.

Miranda reported the safe to DOI, according to sources, and investigators from the agency also located a ledger book with pages ripped out alongside the dough.

Investigators are counting the money and taking pictures of the ledger, one source said, adding there was no record of the origins of the cash.

The DOI has been looking into whether the sheriff’s office, under Miranda’s leadership, improperly seized cash from unlicensed pot shops during crackdowns on the illegal businesses in recent months.

Miranda has been in “panic mode,” according to sources, since he told City Council members at a hearing last week he did not believe sheriff’s deputies had seized any money during the raids.

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He claimed the vouchering process for property seized has been designated with the NYPD.

“They are the ones who voucher the property depending on the circumstances of the location,” Miranda reportedly said during last Tuesday’s hearing on the mayor’s enforcement of cannabis laws. “They will either voucher it as safekeeping or they will voucher it as investigatory evidence depending on the different circumstances.”

But union officials, who have feuded with Miranda, said the sheriff’s statements about the vouchering process “weren’t true” and deputy sheriffs have still been asked to voucher cash and products, the Daily News reported.

The DOI is also investigating allegations that Miranda sought donations to the National Latino Officers Association, of which he is the chairman, by offering to turn a blind eye to certain enforcement issues, sources previously told The Post.

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Body camera footage has also been seized by DOI officials as part of their investigation, sources said.

Miranda could not immediately be reached for comment.

The DOI declined to comment on the investigation.

The sheriff is just one of many New York City officials to find himself mired in scandal.

Mayor Eric Adams, who appointed Miranda to lead the sheriff’s department in May 2022, was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of fraud and bribery on Tuesday.

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Hizzoner is accused of fraudulently obtaining $10 million dollars in public campaign funds and receiving $123,000 worth of bribes, including luxury vacations.

Adams accepted the illicit gifts from a Turkish government official and other foreign nationals for over a decade as part of a “multi-year scheme to buy favor,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams told reporters Thursday.

The controversy has led to mounting calls for the mayor to step aside, which Adams has repeatedly said he will not do.

Instead, he’s requested an “immediate trial” and is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan federal court as early as Friday.

Several other top officials in Adams’ administration have been swept up in a federal investigation sources said is looking into corruption involving potential influence peddling.

Ex-NYPD commissioner Edward Caban resigned as the city’s top cop on Sept. 12, after federal investigators seized his electronic devices.

Caban’s replacement, interim NYPD chief Thomas Donlon, had his home raided by federal agents the following week for allegedly keeping documents from his days as a federal law enforcement official, sources said.

Mayor Adams Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg resigned suddenly on Sept. 14 after she recommended three embattled City Hall aides be fired and Adams refused, sources told The Post.

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