There’s nothing wrong with being a police officer while being in a metal band. Just ask The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk. However, there is something wrong with being a cop in a metal band that tours while you’re collecting $30,000 in disability. Yesterday, Christopher Inserra pleaded guilty to those charges, and also resigned from the Port Authority, where he had been a policeman. He’s expected to face eight to 14 months in prison for mail fraud, according to the New York Daily News. The cop claimed that he’d injured his arm at the World Trade Center in June of 2010. While that happened, he would have been able to return to work in December of that year. However, he claimed that his right arm had limited mobility and he couldn’t move it very well, and stayed on disability for the next few years.
Nobody told Inserra metal band, the Brooklyn-based Cousin Sleaze, however. The band toured the country on the 2011’s “Miles of Mayhem” tour, and video exists of the supposedly-incapacitated cop singing for the band and using his right arm perfectly. Investigators from the Port Authority’s office of inspector general got footage of Inserra performing at clubs while he was on disability as well. As part of his plea, he’ll have to play $30,466 to the government, but remains free on $25,000 bail. He would have faced much more jail time had he been convicted by a jury. The band’s Facebook page hasn’t addressed the elephant in the room yet. By “elephant,” we mean Inserra, and by “the room,” we mean “prison.”
