Wading River Woman Pleads Guilty in Suffolk County Bribery, Licensing Fraud Case

Brianna Hassett, a 33-year-old Wading River woman who worked as an office assistant in the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted bribe receiving in the third degree, a Class E felony, admitting she took cash bribes and falsified licensing paperwork while on the county payroll.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski accepted the plea on March 25. Hassett's husband, Esteban Bermudez, 35, of Hampton Bays, pleaded guilty the same day to offering a false instrument in the first degree. Neither will be formally sentenced until May 27, 2026, when Hassett is expected to receive 1½ to 3 years in state prison and Bermudez is expected to receive five years' probation.

The scheme unfolded in late January 2025, while Hassett was stationed in the department's licensing unit. Prosecutors said she accepted a cash bribe and falsified an application for a home improvement license while acting in concert with Bermudez, who was not a county employee. In exchange for a separate cash bribe, she also provided questions and answers to the proficiency examination required for Suffolk County to issue a vocational license. A third act involved falsifying insurance information on a license application in exchange for another cash payment, according to the Riverhead News Review and earlier reporting from Newsday.

District attorney investigators arrested both Hassett and Bermudez on February 13, 2025. Hassett initially pleaded not guilty to four felony counts, including two counts of receiving a bribe, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, and one count of misdemeanor official misconduct. She was released on her own recognizance and placed under the Department of Probation's pretrial supervision. She resigned from her county position on May 14, 2025.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney did not soften his assessment of the conduct. "This defendant's conduct constitutes an egregious and systematic breach of public trust, as she placed her own greed above her responsibilities as a public official," Tierney said. "My office will continue to have zero tolerance for corruption within any government agency or department."

County Executive Edward P. Romaine directed the Suffolk County Department of Labor to review Hassett's previous work to confirm that all permits she handled were accurate and legal. "Thousands of county employees work hard every day to serve the public with the highest of integrity," Romaine said, adding that his administration would not hesitate to pursue prosecution in cases of public trust violations.

The case drew attention to the vulnerability of county licensing processes to insider manipulation: an office assistant with routine access to examination materials and application paperwork was positioned to sell that access for cash. The review Romaine ordered had not produced publicly reported findings as of this writing.

Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled before Acting Supreme Court Justice Pilewski on May 27.