Colleen Piccone's terror described as trial begins for her suit
against two cops, three ACS workers

BY John Marzulli  DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER  February 9th 2010, 4:00 AM

Two years ago, cops and child welfare caseworkers descended on the
Staten Island home of Colleen Piccone, demanding to search for her
brother's children without a warrant.

The federal lawyer claims she held them at bay for seven hours but
relented when a sergeant threatened to break the door.

Monday, her $650,000 suit against two cops and three Administration
for Children's Services workers went to trial - with her lawyer
telling jurors of her terror.

"She was very scared and worried that she was going to be arrested,
her own children were going to be taken and the whole house
ransacked," Piccone's lawyer, Steven Warshawsky, said in Brooklyn
Federal Court.

"The whole ordeal was intrusive and humiliating."

The standoff began around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2008, when ACS
received a request from the Massachusetts Department of Social
Services for help locating the three young children of Colleen's
brother, Louis Piccone.

The brother had been accused by a day care worker of sexually abusing
his 3-year-old son, and a judge in Massachusetts ordered the removal
of all three children.

Louis Piccone later was arrested for helping his wife take the
children to Russia, but the charges were eventually dropped and the
abuse investigation closed.

But the day of the request from Massachusetts, ACS official See Yuen
Kuet sent caseworkers Cynthia Donnelly and Lori Ferretti to the home
of Colleen Piccone, a top lawyer in U.S. Customs & Border Protection's
New York office.

They called 911 for police backup, but the NYPD was unable to get a
warrant.

Colleen Piccone told Sgt. Daniel Massey and his driver, Glen Thompson,
she would let them in to verify the children weren't there - but she
insisted the caseworkers stay outside, her lawyer said.

At 1 a.m., a police prisoners wagon was parked outside her home - and
then the cops made their threat, Warshawsky said.

City lawyer Fred Weiler denied the cops tried to strong-arm Colleen
Piccone and insisted she gave permission for the search.

"She swung open the door when [Massey] said he wanted to confirm the
children are not in there," Weiler said. "Ms. Piccone freely and
willingly let those four people into her house."

In a deposition read in Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday, Kuet said
"some miracle happened" that allowed the city workers in.

On the stand, Kuet acknowledged caseworkers do not have the authority
to enter a home without a warrant unless there is consent or evidence
a child inside is in "imminent danger."

Another witness, Officer Michael Mazzella, testified that when he
answered the 911 call by caseworkers, there was never any mention that
the children might be in danger.

Last month, the city paid a $38,000 settlement to Colleen Piccone's
elderly parents, who live in the house.