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New Corfu police officer previously suspended by State Police

By Howard B. Owens

The Village of Corfu's newest part-time police officer made a bit of news earlier this year when his name surfaced as part of an alleged prostitution scandal involving a Buffalo-based state trooper.

Michael L. Petritz, 33, was suspended by the State Police in April and has since resigned from the force, though he's never been accused of criminal conduct.

Sgt. James Meier, Corfu police supervisor, said he completed a background check of Petritz before recommending him for the job.

"He wasn't engaged in criminal conduct," Meier said. "He was at a location he shouldn't have been at. He had no involvement with the parties whatsoever. There were never any criminal charges against him."

Petritz's suspension followed allegations of involvement with prostitution against Trooper Titus Taggart, an 18-year veteran of the State Police assigned to Troop T. Taggart was accused of organizing parties that may have included prostitutes. Taggart was eventually fired.

The only allegation against Petritz at the time was "misconduct," with no public disclosure of what that may have entailed.

Meier said he spoke to several people who knew Petritz, including supervisors, who all had good things to say about the former trooper, who, according to Meier, regularly led all of Troop T with the most citations issued.

"I personally did the checking into this guy," Meier said. "The people I talked to, especially his supervisors, said we were getting a highly trained, highly capable police officer. They all said we should be proud to have him."

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