District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Verdict In Pistol Permit Perjury Case

November 17, 2016

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, November 17, 2016, Gilberto Nunez, 49, of Poughkeepsie, was convicted by an Ulster County Court jury of Perjury in the Second Degree, Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, and Making an Apparently Sworn False Statement in the First Degree in connection with false statements he made on a pistol permit application. At the trial prosecutors argued that Nunez had perjured himself when he indicated that he had not ever been terminated or discharged from employment or from military service for cause.  In 1990, Nunez had been discharged from the Marines under “other than honorable conditions”.  This discharge occurred after Nunez had been apprehended for being absent without leave (“AWOL”) for almost three years. Nunez had gone AWOL eight days into his first duty assignment with the Marines.  Nunez, a dentist whose practice was in the City of Kingston, faces a maximum term of 1 1//3 to 4 years in state prison on each of the charges for which had been convicted in this trial.

On October 25, 2016, Nunez had been convicted after a jury trial in Ulster County Court of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, and five counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, all of which are felonies. With respect to that case, Nunez  faces a maximum term of 2 1//3 to 7 years in prison on each count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, and a maximum term of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison on each of the five counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. 

Nunez had previously also been convicted of two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, after a previous jury trial before Judge Williams which had concluded on June 14, 2016. Nunez faces a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison for each of those convictions.   It was proven at that trial that Nunez had possessed, with intent to defraud, a forged CIA identification card and a forged letter purportedly from the CIA.

The Orange County District Attorney had been appointed as Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the charges which were the subject of these three trials.  Nunez is next scheduled to appear in Ulster County Court on February 7. 2017, to be sentenced in connection with all the charges for which he had been convicted.  After the last conviction on November 17, 2016, Nunez was remanded to the Ulster County Jail without bail.   

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Town of Ulster Police Department, City of Kingston Police Department, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office  and the New York State Police for their investigation of these cases. District Attorney Hoovler also thanked the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for their assistance in these  investigations. 

“I am pleased that the jury credited the evidence in this case, which I believe clearly supports the jury’s determination that this defendant perjured himself when he lied about his service as a United States Marine,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “It is clear that this jury carefully considered all of the evidence in reaching their determination that Nunez was guilty of all the crimes charged in this indictment.  Given the myriad of crimes that this defendant has been convicted of, and the expansive time-frame during which they occurred, my office will be recommending consecutive state prison sentences. ” 

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Maryellen B. Albanese and Assistant District Attorney Tanja M. Beemer for their handling of these matters.   

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.