Greater Long Island coverage is funded in part by Toresco & Simonelli, a boutique injury and family law firm in West Islip. They fight for their clients. Click here to get in touch.
A former Suffolk County government worker pleaded guilty Wednesday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for falsifying license applications and leaking exam answers, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.
Brianna Hassett, 33, of Wading River, pleaded guilty plea to third-degree attempted bribe receiving before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski in Riverhead. She faces a sentence of 1½ to three years in prison when she returns to court May 27.
Hassett was working as an office assistant in the licensing unit of the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs when, acting with her husband, Esteban Bermudez, 35, she accepted a monetary bribe and falsified a Home Improvement license application in late January 2025, prosecutors said.
In a separate transaction, she accepted another cash payment in exchange for providing questions and answers to a proficiency exam required for a vocational license.
Hassett and Bermudez were arrested in February last year. Hassett resigned from her county position on May 14.
On Wednesday, Bermudez also pleaded guilty — to first-degree offering a false instrument. Bermudez, who was not employed by the county, faces a five-year probation sentence when he again appears in court on May 27.
Tierney called Hassett’s conduct “an egregious and systematic breach of public trust,” adding that his office would maintain “zero tolerance for corruption within any government agency or department.”
Top: Brianna Hassett (SCDA)
Your Long Island news, delivered.
Subscribe to the GLI Newsletter — its free
